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COLLECTION 



22>1 



COLLEGE WOKDS AND CUSTOMS. 

By Bj HiT HALL, 
ft 



" Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere, cadentque 
Quje nunc sunt in honore, Tocabula." 

" Notandi sunt tibi mores." 

HOR. Ars Poet. 



REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION. 



CAMBRIDGE: 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN BARTLETT. 

1856. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
B. H. HALL, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts, 



CAM bridge: 
Stereotyped and printed by metcalf and compakt.. 



^ IS 



INTRODUCTION 



The first edition of this publication was mostly com- 
piled during the leisure hours of the last half-year of a 
Senior's collegiate life, and was presented anonymous- 
ly to the public with the following 

"PREFACE. 

" The Editor has an indistinct recollection of a sheet 
of foolscap paper, on one side of which was written, 
perhaps a year and a half ago, a list of twenty or thirty 
college phrases, followed by the euphonious titles of 
* Yale Coll.,' ' Harvard Coll.' Next he calls to mind 
two blue-covered books, turned from their original use, 
as receptacles of Latin and Greek exercises, contain- 
ing explanations of these and many other phrases. 
His friends heard that he was hunting up odd words 
and queer customs, and dubbed him ' Antiquarian,' 
but in a kindly manner, spared his feelings, and did 
not put the vinegar * old ' before it. 

" Two and one half quires of paper were in time 
I covered with a strange medley, an olla-podrida of stu- 



INTRODUCTION. 



dent peculiarities. Thus did he amuse himself in his 
leisure hours, something like one who, as Dryden says, 
' is for raking in Chaucer for antiquated words.' By 
and by he heard a wish here and a wish there, whether 
real or otherwise he does not know, which said some- 
thing about ' type,' ' press,' and used other cabalistic 
words, such as ' copy,' * devil,' etc. Then there was a 
gathering of papers, a transcribing of passages from 
letters, an arranging in alphabetical order, a correcting 
of proofs, and the work was done, — poorly it may be, 
but with good intent. 

" Some things will be found in the following pages 
which are neither words nor customs peculiar to col- 
leges, and yet they have been inserted, because it was 
thought they would serve to explain the character of 
student life, and afford a little amusement to the stu- 
dent himself. Society histories have been omitted, 
with the exception of an account of the oldest affiliated 
literary society in the United States. 

" To those who have aided in the compilation of this 
work, the Editor returns his warmest thanks. He has 
received the assistance of many, whose names he would 
here and in all places esteem it an honor openly to ac- 
knowlege, were he not forbidden so to do by the fact 
that he is himself anonymous. Aware that there is 
information still to be collected, in reference to the sub- 
jects here treated, he would deem it a favor if he could 
receive through the medium of his publisher such mor- 
sels as are yet ungathered. 

" Should one pleasant thought arise within the breast 



INTRODUCTION. V 

of any Alumnus, as a long-forgotten but once familiar 
word stares him in the face, like an old and early 
friend ; or should one who is still guarded by his Alma 
Mater be led to a more summer-like acquaintance with 
those who have in years past roved, as he now roves, 
through classic shades and honored halls, the labors of 
their friend, the Editor, will have been crowned with 
complete success. 

" Cambkidge, July 4th, 1851." 

Fearing lest venerable brows should frown with dis- 
pleasure at the recital of incidents which once made 
those brows bright and joyous ; dreading also those 
stern voices which might condemn as boyish, trivial, or 
wrong an attempt to glean a few grains of philological 
lore from the hitherto unrecognized corners of the fields 
of college life, the Editor chose to regard the brows and 
hear the voices from an innominate position. Not 
knowing lest he should at some future time regret the 
publication of pages which might be deemed hetero- 
dox, he caused a small edition of the work to be pub- 
lished, hoping, should it be judged as evil, that the error 
would be circumscribed in its effects, and the medium 
of the error buried between the dusty shelves of the 
second-hand collection of some rusty old bibliopole. 
By reason of this extreme caution, the volume has been 
out of print for the last four years. 

In the present edition, the contents of the work have 
been carefully revised, and new articles, filling about 



VI ' INTRODUCTION. 

two hundred pages, have been interspersed throughout 
the volume, arranged under appropriate titles. Nu- 
merous additions have been made to the collection of 
technicalities peculiar to the English universities, and 
the best authorities have been consulted in the prepa- 
ration of this department. An index has also been 
added, containing a list of the American colleges re- 
ferred to in the text in connection with particular 
words or customs. 

The Editor is aware that many of the words here 
inserted are wanting in that refinement of sound and 
derivation which their use in classical localities might 
seem to imply, and that some of the customs here 
noticed and described are 

" More honored in the breacli than the observance." 

These facts are not, however, sufficient to outweigh 
his conviction that there is nothing in language or 
manners too insignificant for the attention of those 
who are desirous of studying the diversified develop- 
ments of the character of man. For this reason, and 
for the gratification of his own taste and the tastes of 
many who were pleased at the inceptive step taken in 
the first edition, the present volume has been prepared 
and is now given to the public. 

Trot, N. Y., February 2, 1856. 



COLLECTION 



COLLEGE WORDS AND CUSTOMS 



A. 

A. B. An abbreviation for Artium Baccalaureus, Bachelor of 
Arts. The first degree taken by students at a college or 
university. It is usually written B. A., q. v. 

ABSIT. Latin ; hterally, let him he absent ; leave of absence 
from commons, given to a student in the Enghsh universi- 
ties. — Gradus ad Cantab. 

ACADEMIAN. A member of an academy ; a student in a 
university or college. 

ACADEMIC. A student in a college or university. 

A young academic coming into the country immediately after this 
great competition, &c. — Forty's Vocabulary^ under Pin-basket. 

A young academic shall dwell upon a journal that treats of trade, 
and be lavish in the praise of the author ; while persons skilled in 
those subjects hear the tattle with contempt. — Watts's Improvement 
of the Mind. 

ACADEMICALS. In the English universities, the dress pe- 
culiar to the students and officers. 

I must insist on your going to your College and putting on your 
academicals. — The Etonian, Vol. 11. p. 382. 

The Proctor makes a claim of 6s. 8d. on every undergraduate 
whom he finds inermem, or without his academicals. — Gradus ad 
Cantab., p. 8. 

1 



2 COLLEGE WORDS 

If you say you are going for a walk, or if it appears likely, from 
the time and place, you are allowed to pass, otherwise you may be 
sent back to college to put on your academicals. — Collegian's 
Guide, p. 177. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT. At Harvard College, . every stu- 
dent admitted upon examination, after giving a bond for the 
payment of all college dues, according to the established 
laws and customs, is required to sign the following acknowl- 
edgment as it is called : — "I acknowledge that, having been 
admitted to the University at Cambridge, I am subject to its 
laws." Thereupon he receives from the President a copy of 
the laws which he has promised to obey. — Laws Univ. at 
Cam., Mass., 1848, p. 13. 

ACT. In English universities, a thesis maintained in public by 
a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a stu- 
dent. — Webster. 

The student proposes certain questions to the presiding 
officer of the schools, who then nominates other students to 
oppose him. The discussion is syllogistical and in Latin, 
and terminates by the presiding officer questioning the re- 
spondent, or person who is said to keep the act, and his oppo- 
nents, and dismissing them with some remarks upon their 
respective merits. — Brande. 

The effect of practice in such matters may be illustrated by the 
habit of conversing in Latin, which German students do much 
more readily than English, simply because the former practise it, 
and hold public disputes in Latin, while the latter have long left off 

• " keeping Acts" as the old public discussions required of candidates 
for a degree used to be called. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 184. 

The word was formerly used in Harvard College. In the 
"Orders of the Overseers," May 6th, 1650, is the follow- 
ing : " Such that expect to proceed Masters of Arts [are 
ordered] to exhibit their synopsis of acts required by the 
laws of the College." — Qidncifs Hist, Harv. Univ., Vol. I. 
p. 518. 

Nine Bachelors comrnenced at Cauibridge ; they were young 



AND CUSTOMS. 3 

men of good hope, and performed their acts so as to give good 
proof of their proficiency in the tongues and arts. — Winthrop's 
Journal, hy Mr. Savage, Vol. I. p. 87. 

The students of the first classis that have beene. these foure 
yeeres trained up in University learning (for their ripening in the 
knowledge of the tongues, and arts) and are approved for their 
manners, as they have kept their publick Acts in former yeares, our- 
selves being present at them ; so have they lately kept two solemn 
Acts for their Commencement. — New England's First Fruits, in 
Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. I. p. 245. 

But in the succeeding acts the Latin syllogism seemed to 

give the most content. — Harvard Register, 1827-28, p. 305. 

2. The close of the session at Oxford, when Masters and 
Doctors complete their degrees, whence the Act Term, or that 
term in which the act falls. It is always held with great 
solemnity. At Cambridge, and in American colleges, it is 
called Commencement. In this sense Mather uses it. 

They that were to proceed Bachelors, held their Act publickly in 
Cambridge. — Mather's Magnalia, B. 4, pp. 127, 128. 

At some times in the universities of England they have no pub- 
lic acts, but give degrees privately and silently. — Letter of Increase 
Mather, in App. to Pres. Woolseifs Hist. Disc, p. 87. 

AD EUNDEM GRADUM. Latin, to the same degree: In 
American colleges, a Bachelor or Master of one institution 
was formerly allowed to take the same degree at another, on 
payment of a certain fee. By this he was admitted to all the 
privileges of a graduate of his adopted Alma Mater. Ad 
eundem gradum, to the same degree, were the important 
words in the formula of admission. A similar custom pre- 
vails at present in the English universities. 

Persons who have received a degree in any other college or uni- 
versity may, upon proper application, be admitted ad eundem, upon 
payment of the customary fees to the President. — Laios Union 
Coll, 1807, p. 47. 

Persons who have received a degree in any other university or 
college may, upon proper appHcation, be admitted ad eundem, upon 
paying five dollars to the Steward for the President. — Laws of the 
Univ. in Cam., Mass., 1828. 



4 COLLEGE WORDS 

Persons who have received a degree at any other college may, 
upon proper application, be admitted ad eundem, upon payment 
of the customary fee to the President. — Laws Mid. Coll, 1830, 
p. 24. 

The House of Convocation consists both of regents and non- 
regents, that is, in brief, all masters of arts not honorary, or ad 
eundems from Cambridge or Dublin, and of course graduates of a 
higher order. — Oxford Guide, 1847, p. xi. 

Fortunately some one recollected that the American Minister 
was a D. C. L. of Trinity College, Dublin, members of which are 
admitted ad eundem gradum at Cambridge. — Bristed's Five Years 
in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 112. 

ADJOURN. At Bowdoin College, adjourns are the occasional 
holidays given when a Professor unexpectedly absents him- 
self from recitation. 

ADJOURN. At the University of Vermont, this word as a 
verb is used in the same sense as is the verb Bolt at Wil- 
liams College ; e. g. the students adjourn a recitation, when 
they leave the recitation-room en 7nasse, despite the Professor. 

ADMISSION. The act of admitting a person as a member of 
a college or university. The requirements for admission are 
usually a good moral character on the part of the candidate, 
and that he shall be able to pass a satisfactory examination in 
certain studies. In some colleges, students are not allowed 
to enter until they are of a specified age. — Laws Univ. at 
Cam,, Mass., 1848, p. 12. Laws Tale Coll., 1837, p. 8. 

The requisitions for entrance at Harvard College in 1650 
are given in the following extract. "When any scholar is 
able to read TuUy, or such like classical Latin author, extem- 
pore, and make and speak true Latin in verse and prose suo 
(ut aiunt) Marte, and decline perfectly the paradigms of 
nouns and verbs in the Greek tongue, then may he be admit- 
ted into the College, nor shall any claim admission before 
such qualifications." — Quincifs Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. 
p. 515. 

ADMITTATUR. Latin; literally, let him he admitted. In 
the older American colleges, the certificate of admission 



AND CUSTOMS. O 

given to a student upon entering was called an admittatur, 
from the word with which it began. At Harvard no student 
was allowed to occupy a room in the College, to receive the 
instruction there given, or was considered a member thereof, 
until he had been admitted according to this form. — Laws 
Harv. Coll, 1798. 

Referring to Yale College, President Woolsey remarks on 
this point : " The earliest known laws of the College belong 
to the years 1720 and 1726, and are in manuscript ; which is 
explained by the custom that every Freshman, on his admis- 
sion, was required to write off a copy of them for himself, to 
which the admittatur of the officers was subscribed." — Hist. 
Disc, before Grad. Tale Coll., 1850, p. 45. 

He travels wearily over in visions the term he is to wait for his 
initiation into college ways and his admittatur. — Harvard Register, 
p. 377. 

I received my adinittatur and returned home, to pass the vacation 
and procure the college uniform. — New England Magazine, "Vol. 
m. p. 238. 

It was not till six months of further trial, that we received our 
admittatur, so called, and became matriculated. — A Tour through 
College, 1832, p. 13. 

ADMITTO TE AD GRADUM. I admit you to a degree ; 
the first words in the formula used in conferring the honors 
of college. 

The scholar-dress that once arrayed him, 
The charm Admitto te ad gradum, 
With touch of parchment can refine, 
And make the veriest coxcomb shine. 
Confer the gift of tongues at once, 
And fill with sense the vacant dunce. 
TrumbulVs Progress of Dullness, Ed. 1794, Exeter, p. 12. 

ADMONISH. In collegiate affairs, to reprove a member of a 
college for a fault, either publicly or privately ; the first step 
of college discipline. It is followed by of or against ; as, 
to admonish of a fault committed, or against committing a 
fault. 

1* 



6 COLLEGE WORDS 

ADMONITION. Private or public reproof; the first step of 
college discipline. In Harvard College, both private and 
public admonition subject the offender to deductions from his 
rank, and the latter is accompanied in most cases with official 
notice to his parents or guardian. — See Laws Univ. at Cam., 
Mass., 1848, p. 21. Laws Yale Coll., 1837, p. 23. 

Mr. Flynt, for many years a tutor in Harvard College, 
thus records an instance of college punishment for stealing 
poultry: — "November 4th, 1717. Three scholars were 
publicly admonished for thievery, and one degraded below 
five in his class, because he had been before publicly admon- 
ished for card-playing. They were ordered by the President 
into the middle of the Hall (while two others, concealers of 
the theft, were ordered to stand up in their places, and spoken 
to there). The crime they were charged with was first de- 
clared, and then laid open as against the law of God and the 
House, and they were admonished to consider the nature and 
tendency of it, with its aggravations ; and all, with them, 
were warned to take heed and regulate themselves, so that 
they might not be in danger of so doing for the future ; and 
those who consented to the theft were admonished to beware, 
lest God tear them in pieces, according to the text. They 
were then fined, and ordered to make restitution twofold for 
each theft." — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 443. 

ADOPTED SON. Said of a student in reference to the col- 
lege of which he is or was a member, the college being styled 
his alma mater. 

There is something in the affection of our Alma Mater •which 
changes the nature of her adopted sons ; and let them come from 
wherever they may, she soon alters them and makes it evident that 
they belong to the same brood. — Harvard Register, p. 377. 

ADVANCE. The lesson which a student prepares for the 
first time is called the advance, in contradistinction to the 
review. 

Even to save him from perdition, 
He cannot get " the advance," forgets " the review." 

CJiilde Harvard, p. 13. 



AND CUSTOMS. ' 

-^GROTAL. Latin, cegroius, sick. A certificate of illness. 
Used in the Univ. of Cam., Eng. 

A lucky thought ; he will get an " ccgrotal" or medical certifi- 
cate of illness. — Household Words, Vol. II. p. 162. 

JEGROTAT. Latin; literally, he is sick. In the English 
universities, a certificate from a doctor or surgeon, to the 
efiect that a student has been prevented by illness from at- 
tending to his college duties, " though, commonly," says the 
Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, " the real complaint is much more 
serious ; viz. indisposition of the mind ! cegrotat animo magis 
quam corpore." This state is techinally called cegritude, and 
the person thus afiected is said to be ceger. — The Etonian^ 
Vol. IL pp. 386, 387. 

To prove sickness nothing more is necessary than to send to some 
medical man for a pill and a draught, and a little bit of paper with 
cegrotat on it, and the doctor's signature. Some men let themselves 
down ofi" their horses, and send for an CEgrotai on the score of a 
fall. — Westminster Rev., Am. Ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 235. 

During this term I attended another course of Aristotle lectures, 
— but not with any express view to the May examination, which I 
had no intention of going in to, if it could be helped, and which I 
eventually escaped by an cegrotat from my physician. — Bristed's 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 198. 

Mr. John Trumbull well describes this state of indisposi- 
tion in his Progress of Dullness : — 

" Then every book, which ought to please, 
Stirs up the seeds of dire disease ; 
Greek spoils his eyes, the print 's so fine, 
Grown dim with study, and with wine ; 
Of TuUy's Latin much afraid, 
Each page he calls the doctor's aid ; 
While geometry, with lines so crooked, 
Sprains all his wits to overlook it. 
His sickness puts on every name, 
Its cause and uses stiU the same ; 
'T is toothache, colic, gout, or stone, 
With phases various as the moon, 
But tho' thro' all the body spread. 
Still makes its cap'tal seat, the head. 



8 COLLEGE WORDS 

In all diseases, 't is expected, 

The weakest parts be most infected." 

Ed. 1794, Parti, p. 8. 
iEGROTAT DEGREE. One who is sick or so indisposed 
that he cannot attend the Senate-House examination, nor 
consequently acquire any honor, takes what is termed an 
Mgrotat degree. — Alma Mater, Vol. 11. p. 105. 
ALMA MATER, 'pl. Alm^ Matres. Fostering mother ; a 
college or seminary where one is educated. The title was 
originally given to Oxford and Cambridge, by such as had 
received their education in either university. 

It must give pleasure to the alumni of the College to hear of his 
good name, as he [Benjamin Woodbridge] was the eldest son of 
our alma mater. — Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., App., p. 57. 

I see the truths I have uttered, in relation to our Almce Matres, 
assented to by sundry of their children. — Terrce-Filius, Oxford, 
p. 41. 

ALUMNI, SOCIETY OF. An association composed of the 
graduates of a particular college. The object of societies of 
this nature is stated in the following extract from President 
Hopkins's Address before the Society of Alumni of Williams 
College, Aug. 16, 1843. " So far as I know, the Society of 
the Alumni of Williams College was the first association of 
the kind in this country, certainly the first which acted effi- 
ciently, and called forth literary addresses. It was formed 
September 5, 1821, and the preamble to the constitution then 
adopted was as follows : * For the promotion of literature and 
good fellowship among ourselves, and the better to advance 
the reputation and interests of our Alma Mater, we the sub- 
scribers, graduates of Williams College, form ourselves into 
a Society.' The first president was Dr. Asa Burbank. The 
first orator elected was the Hon. Elijah Hunt Mills, a distin- 
guished Senator of the United States. That appointment 
was not fulfilled. The first oration was delivered in 1823, 
by the Rev. Dr. Woodbridge, now of Hadley, and was well 
worthy of the occasion ; and since that time the annual 
oration before the Alumni has seldom failed Since 



AND CUSTOMS. 9 

this Society was formed, the example has been followed in 
other institutions, and bids fair to extend to them all. Last 
year, for the first time, the voice of an Alumnus orator was 
heard at Harvard and at Yale ; and one of these associa- 
tions, I know, sprung directly from ours. It is but three 
years since a venerable man attended the meeting of our 
Alumni, one of those that have been so full of interest, and 
he said he should go directly home and have such an associ- 
ation formed at the Commencement of his Alma Mater, then 
about to occur. He did so. That association was formed, 
and the last year the voice of one of the first scholars and 
jurists in the nation was heard before them. The present 
year the Alumni of Dartmouth were addressed for the first 
time, and the doctrine of Progress was illustrated by the dis- 
tinguished speaker in more senses than one.* Who can tell 
how great the influence of such associations may become in 
cherishing kind feeling, in fostering literature, in calling out 
talent, in leading men to act, not selfishly, but more efficient- 
ly for the general cause through particular institutions ? " — 
Pres. Hopkins's Miscellaneous Essays and Discourses, pp. 
275 - 277. 

To the same effect also, Mr. Chief Justice Story, who, in 
his Discourse before the Society of the Alumni of Harvard 
University, Aug. 23, 1842, says : " We meet to celebrate 
the first anniversary of the society of all the Alumni of Har- 
vard. We meet without any distinction of sect or party, or 
of rank or profession, in church or in state, in literature or 

in science Our fellowship is designed to be — as it 

should be — of the most liberal and comprehensive char- 
acter, conceived in the spirit of catholic benevolence, asking 
no creed but the love of letters, seeking no end but the en- 
couragement of learning, and imposing no conditions, which 
may lead to jealousy or ambitious strife. In short, we meet 
for peace and for union ; to devote one day in the year to 
academical intercourse and the amenities of scholars." — p. 4. 

* Hon. Levi Woodbury, whose subject was "Progress." 



10 COLLEGE WORDS 

An Alumni society was formed at Columbia College in the 
year 1829, and at Rutgers College in 1837. There are also 
societies of this nature at the College of New Jersey, Prince- 
ton ; University of Virginia, Charlottesville ; and at Colum- 
lumbian College, Washington. 

ALUMNUS, jjL Alumni. Latin, from ah, to nourish. A 
pupil ; one educated at a seminary or college is called an 
alumnus of that institution. 

A. M. An abbreviation for Artium Magister, Master of Arts. 
The second degree given by universities and colleges. It is 
usually written M. A., q. v. 

ANALYSIS. In the following passage, the word analysis is 
used as a verb ; the meaning being directly derived from 
that of the noun of the same orthography. 

If any resident Bachelor, Senior, or Junior Sophister shall neg- 
lect to analysis in his course, he shall be punished not exceeding 
ten shillings. — Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., App., p. 129. 

ANNARUGIANS. At Centre College, Kentucky, is a society 
called the Annarugians, " composed," says a correspondent, 
" of the wildest of the College boys, who, in the most fantas- 
tic disguises, are always on hand when a wedding is to take 
place, and join in a most tremendous Charivari, nor can they 
be forced to retreat until they have received a due proportion 
of the sumptuous feast prepared." 

APOSTLES. At Cambridge, England, the last twelve on the 
list of Bachelors of Arts ; a degree lower than the ot ttoXXo/. 
" Scape-goats of literature, who have at length scrambled 
through the pales and discipline of the Senate-House, with- 
out being plucked, and miraculously obtained the title of 
A. B." — Gradus ad Cantah. 

At Columbian College, D. C, the members of the Faculty 
are called after the names of the Apostles. 

APPLICANT. A diligent student. « This word," says Mr. 
Pickering, in his Vocabulary, " has been much used at our 
colleges. The Enghsh have the verb to apply, but the noun 
applicant, in this sense, does not appear to be in use among 



AND CUSTOMS. 11 

them. The only Dictionary in which I have found it with 
this meaning is Entick's, in which it is given under the word 
applier. Mr. Todd has the term applicant, but it is only in 
- the sense of ' he who applies for anything.' An American 
reviewer, in his remarks on Mr. Webster's Dictionary, takes 
notice of the word, observing, that it ' is a mean word ' ; and 
then adds, that ' Mr. "Webster has not explained it in the 
most common sense, a hard student J — Monthly Anthology, 
Vol. YII. p. 263. A correspondent observes : ' The utmost 
that can be said of this word among the English is, that per- 
haps it is occasionally used in conversation ; at least, to signify 
one who asks (or applies) for something.' " At present the 
word applicant is never used in the sense of a diligent stu- 
dent, the common signification being that given by Mr. Web- 
ster, " One who applies ; one who makes request ; a peti- 
tioner." 

APPOINTEE. One who receives an appointment at a college 
exhibition or commencement. 

The appointees are writing their pieces. — Scenes and Characters 
in College, New Haven, 1847, p. 193. 

To the gratified appointee, — if his ambition for the honor has 
the intensity it has in some bosoms, — the day is the proudest he 
will ever see. — lUd., p. 194. 

I suspect that a man in the first class of the " Poll " has usually 
read mathematics to more profit than many of the " appointees,'* 
even of the " oration men " at Yale. — Bristed's Five Years in an 
Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 382. 

He hears it said all about him that the College appointees are for 
the most part poor dull fellows. — Ibid., p. 389. 

APPOINTMENT. In many American colleges, students to 
whom are assigned a part in the exercises of an exhibition 
or commencement, are said to receive an appointment. Ap- 
pointments are given as a reward for superiority in scholar- 
ship. 

As it regards college, the object of appointments is to incite to 
study, and promote good scholarship. — Scenes and Characters in 
College, New Haven, 1847, p. 69. 



12 COLLEGE WORDS 

If e'er ye would take an " appointment" young man, 
Beware o' the " blade " and " fine fellow," young man ! 

Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XV. p. 210. 
Some have crammed for appointments, and some for degrees. 
Presentation Day Songs, Yale Coll., June 14, 1854. 
See Junior Appointments. 
APPROBAMUS. Latin; we approve. A certificate, given 
to a student, testifying of liis fitness for the performance of 
certain duties. 

In an account of the exercises at Dartmouth College during 
the Commencement season in 1774, Dr. Belknap makes use 
of this word in the following connection : " I attended, with 
several others, the examination of Joseph Johnson, an Indian, 
educated in this school, who, with the rest of the New Eng- 
land Indians, are about moving up into the country of the 
Six Nations, where they have a tract of land fifteen miles 
square given them. He appeared to be an ingenious, sensi- 
ble, serious young man ; and we gave him an approhamus, of 
which there is a copy on the next page. After which, at 
three P. M., he preached in the college hall, and a collection 
of twenty-sev.en dollars and a half was made for him. The 
auditors were agreeably entertained. 

" The approhamus is as follows." — Life of Jeremy Belknap y 
D.D., pp. 71, 72. 
APPROBATE. To express approbation of; to manifest a 
liking, or degree of satisfaction. — Webster. 

The cause of this battle every man did allow and approbate. — 
Hall, llennj VIL, Richardson's Diet. 

*•' This word," says IVIr. Pickering, " was formerly much 
used at our colleges instead of the old English verb approve. 
The students used to speak of having their performances 
approbated by the instructors. It is also now in common use 
with our clergy as a sort of technical term, to denote a person 
who is licensed to preach; they would say, such a one is 
approbated, that is, licensed to preach. It is also common 
in New England to say of a person who is licensed by the 
county courts to sell spirituous liquors, or to keep a public 



AND CUSTOMS. 13 

house, that he is approbated ; and the term is adopted in the 
law of Massachusetts on this subject." The word is obsolete 
in England, is obsolescent at our colleges, and is very seldom 
heard in the other senses given above. 

By the twelfth statute, a student incurs no penalty by de- 
claiming or attempting to declaim without having his piece previ- 
ously approbated. — MS. Note to Laws of Harvard College, 1798. 

Observe their faces as they enter, and you will perceive some 
shades there, which, if they are approbated and admitted, will be 
gone when they come out. — Scenes and Characters in College, 
New Haven, 1847, p. 13. 

How often does the professor whose duty it is to criticise and ap- 
probate the pieces for this exhibition wish they were better ! — Ibid., 
p. 195. 

I was approbated by the Boston Association, I suspect, as a per- 
son well known, but known as an anomaly, and admitted in chari- 
ty. — Memorial of John S. Popkin, D. D., v. Ixxxv. 

ASSES' BEIDGE. The fifth proposition of the first book of 
Euclid is called the Asses' Bridge, or rather " Pons Asino- 
rum," from the difficulty with which many get over it. 

The Asses' Bridge in Euclid is not more difficult to be got over, 
nor the logarithms of Napier so hard to be unravelled, as many of 
Hoyle's Cases and Propositions. — The Connoisseur, No. LX. 

After Mr, Brown had passed us over the " Asses' Bridge," with- 
out any serious accident, and conducted us a few steps further into 
the first book, he dismissed us with many compHments. — Alma 
Mater, Vol. I. p. 126. 

I don't believe he passed the Pons Asinorum without many a 
halt and a stumble. — Ibid., Vol. I. p. 146. 

ASSESSOR. In the English universities, an officer specially 
appointed to assist the Vice-Chancellor in his court. — Cam. 
Cal 

AUCTION. At Harvard College, it was until within a few 
years customary for the members of the Senior Class, previ- 
ously to leaving college, to bring together in some convenient 
room all the books, furniture, and movables of any kind which 
they wished to dispose of, and put them up at public auction. 
2 



14: COLLEGE WORDS 

Everything offered was either sold, or, if no bidders could be 
obtained, given away. 

AUDIT. In the University of Cambridge, England, a meet- 
ing of the Master and Fellows to examine or audit the col- 
lege accounts. This is succeeded by a feast, on which occa- 
sion is broached the very best ale, for which reason ale of this 
character is called " audit ale." — Grad. ad Cantab. 

This use of the word thirst made me drink an extra bumper of 
''^ Audit" that very day at dinner. — Alma Mater^ Vol. I. p. 3. 

After a few draughts of the Audit., the company disperse. — Ihid., 
Vol. I. p. 161. 

AUTHORITY. "This word," says Mr. Pickering, in his 
Vocabulary, " is used in some of the States, in speaking 
collectively of the Professors, &c. of our colleges, to whom 
the government of these institutions is intrusted." 

Every Freshman shall be obliged to do any proper errand or 
message for the Auiliority of the College. — Laws Middlehury Coll., 
1804, p. 6. 

AUTOGRAPH BOOK. It is customary at Yale College for 
each member of the Senior Class, before the close of his col- 
legiate life, to obtain, in a book prepared for that purpose, the 
signatures of the President, Professors, Tutors, and of all his 
classmates, with anything else which they may choose to in- 
sert. Opposite the autographs of the college officers are 
placed engravings of them, so far as they are obtainable ; 
and the whole, bound according to the fancy of each, forms a 
most valuable collection of agreeable mementos. 

When news of his death reached me, I turned to my hook of 
classmate autographs., to see what he had written there, and to read 
a name unusually dear. — Scenes and Characters in College, New 
Haven, 1847, p. 201. 

AVERAGE BOOK. At Harvard College, a book in which 
the marks received by each student, for the proper perform- 
ance of his college duties, are entered ; also the deductions 
from his rank resulting from misconduct. These unequal 
data are then arranged in a mean proportion, and the result 



AND CUSTOMS. 15 

signifies tlie standing which the student has held for a given 

period. 

In vain the Prex's grave rebuke, 
Deductions from the average hook. 

MS. Poem, W. F. Allen, 1848. 



B. 

B. A. An abbreviation of Baccalaureus Artium, Bachelor of 
Arts. ' The first degree taken by a student at a college or 
university. Sometimes written A. B., which is in accordance 
with the proper Latin arrangement. In American colleges 
this degree is conferred in course on each member of the 
Senior Class in good standing. In the English universities, 
it is given to the candidate who has been resident at least 
half of each of ten terms, i. e. during a certain portion of a 
period extending over three and a third years, and who has 
passed the University examinations. 

The method of conferring the degree of B. A. at Trinity 
College, Hartford, is peculiar. The President takes the 
hands of each candidate in his own as he confers the degree. 
He also passes to the candidate a book containing the College 
Statutes, which the candidate holds in his right hand durins; 
the performance of a part of the ceremony. 

The initials of English academical titles always correspond to the 
English, not to the Latin of the titles, B. A., M. A., D. D., D. C. L., 
&c. — Brisied's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 13. 

See Bachelor. 
BACCALAUREATE. The degree of Bachelor of Arts ; the 
first or lowest degree. In American colleges, this degree is 
conferred in course on each member of the Senior Class in 
good standing. In Oxford and Cambridge it is attainable in 
two different ways ; — 1. By examination, to which those stu- 



16 COLLEGE WORDS 

dents alone are admissible who have pursued the prescribed 
course of study for the space of three years. 2. By extraor- 
dinary diploma, granted to individuals wholly unconnected 
with the University. The former class are styled Baccalau- 
rei Formati, the latter Baccalaurei Currentes. In France, 
the degree of Baccalaureat (Baccalaureus Literarum) is con- 
ferred indiscriminately upon such natives or foreigners as, 
after a strict examination in the classics, mathematics, and 
philosophy, are declared to be qualified. In the German 
universities, the title " Doctor Philosophise " has long been 
substituted for Baccalaureus Artium or Literarum. In the 
Middle Ages, the term Baccalaureus was applied to an infe 
rior order of knights, who came into the field unattended by 
vassals ; from them it was transferred to the lowest class of 
ecclesiastics ; and thence again, by Pope Gregory the Ninth, 
to the universities. In reference to the derivation of this 
word, the mihtary classes maintain that it is either derived 
from the haculus or staff with which knights were usually in- 
vested, or from has chevalier, an inferior kind of knight ; the 
literary classes, with more plausibility, perhaps, trace its ori- 
gin to the custom which prevailed universally among the 
Greeks and Komans, and which was followed even in Italy 
till the thirteenth century, of crowning distinguished individ- 
uals with laurel ; hence the recipient of this honor was styled 
Baccalaureus, quasi haccis laurels donatus. — Brande^s Dic- 
tionary. 

The subjoined passage, although it may not place the sub- 
ject in any clearer light, will show the difference of opinion 
which exists in reference to the derivation of this Avord. 
Speaking of the exercises of Commencement at Cambridge, 
Mass., in the early days of Harvard College, the writer says : 
" But the main exercises were disputations upon questions, 
wherein the respondents first made their Theses : For accord- 
ing to Vossius, the very essence of the Baccalaureat seems to 
lye in the thing : Baccalaureus being but a name corrupted 
of Batualius, which Batualius (as well as the French Bataile 
[Bataille]) comes h. Batuendo, a business that carries beating 



AND CUSTOMS. 17 

in it : So that, Batualii fuerunt vocati, quia jam quasi hatuis- 
sent cum adversario, ac manus conseruissent ; hoc est, pub- 
lice disputassent, atque ita peritice suae specimen dedissent." 
— Mather's Magnalia, B. IV. p. 128. 

The Seniors will be examined for the Baccalaureate^ four weeks 
before Commencement, by a committee, in connection with the 
Faculty. — Cat. Wesleyan Univ.^ 1849, p. 22. 

BACHELOH. A person who has taken the first degree in the 
Hberal arts and sciences, at a college or university. This de- 
gree, or honor, is called the Baccalaureate. This title is given 
also to such as take the first degree in divinity, law, or phys- 
ic, in certain European universities. The word appears in 
various forms in different languages. The following are 
taken from Webster's Unahridged Dictionary. " French, 
hachelier ; Spanish, hachiller, a bachelor of arts and a bab- 
bler ; Portuguese, hacharel, id., and hacello, a shoot or twig of 
the vine ; Italian, haccelliere, a bachelor of arts ; hacchio, a. 
staff; hachetta, a rod; Latin, haculus, a stick, that is, a shoot; 
French, hachelette, a damsel, or young woman ; Scotch, haich, 
a child; Welsh, hacgen, a boy, a child; hacgenes, a young 
girl, from hac, small. This word has its origin in the name 
of a child, or young person of either sex, whence the sense 
of hahUing in the Spanish. Or both senses are rather from 
shooting, protruding." 

Of the various etymologies ascribed to the term Bachelor, 
" the true one, and the most flattering," says the Gradus ad 
Cantabrigiam, " seems to be hacca laurus. Those who either 
are, or expect to be, honored with the title of Bachelor of 
Arts, will hear with exultation, that they are then ' consid- 
ered as the budding flowers of the University ; as the small 
pillida, or hacca, of the laurel indicates the flowering of that 
tree, which is so generally used in the crowns of those who 
have deserved well, both of the military states, and of the 
republic of learning.' — Garter's History of Cambridge, 
\_Eng.'], 1753." 

BACHELOR FELLOW. A Bachelor of Arts who is mam- 
tained on a fellowship. 
2* . 



18 COLLEGE WORDS 

BACHELOR SCHOLAR. At the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., a B. A. who remains in residence after taking his de- 
gree, for the purpose of reading for a fellowship or acting as 
private tutor. He is always noted for superiority in scholar- 
ship. 

Bristed refers to the bachelor scholars in the annexed ex- 
tract. " Along the wall you see two tables, which, though 
less carefully provided than the Fellows', are still served with 
tolerable decency and go through a regular second course in- 
stead of the ' sizings.' The occupants of the upper or inner 
table are men apparently from twenty-two to twenty-six years 
of age, and wear black gowns with two strings hanging loose 
in front. If this table has less state than the adjoining one 
of the Fellows, it has more mirth and brilliancy ; many a 
good joke seems to be going the rounds. These are the 
Bachelors, most of them Scholars reading for Fellowships, 
and nearly all of them private tutors. Although Bachelors 
in Arts, they are considered, both as respects the College and 
the University, to be in statu pupillari until they become 
M. A.'s. They pay a small sum in fees nominally for tuition, 
and are liable to the authority of that mighty man, the Proc- 
tor." — Five Tears in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 20. 

BACHELORSHIP. The state of one who has taken his first 
degree in a university or college. — Webster. 

BACK-LESSON. A lesson which has not been learned or 
recited ; a lesson which has been omitted. 

In a moment you may see the yard covered with hurrying groups, 
some just released from metaphysics or the blackboard, and some 
just arisen from their beds where they have indulged in the luxury 
of sleeping over, — a luxury, however, which is sadly diminished 
by the anticipated necessity of making up hack-lessons. — Harv. 
Reg., p. 202. 

BALBUS. At Yale College, this term is applied to Arnold's 
Latin Prose Composition, from the fact of its so frequent 
occurrence in that work. If a student wishes to inform his 
fellow-student that he is engaged on Latin Prose Composi- 



AND CUSTOMS. 19 

tion, he says he is studying Balhus. In the first example of 
this book, the first sentence reads, " I and Balbus lifted up 
our hands," and the name Balbus appears in almost every 
exercise. 
BALL UP. At Middlebury College, to fail at recitation or 

examination. 
BANDS. Linen ornaments, worn by professors and clergy- 
men when ofiiciating ; also by judges, barristers, &c., in 
court. They form a distinguishing mark in the costume of 
the proctors of the English universities, and at Cambridge, 
the questionists, on admission to their degrees, are by the 
statutes obliged to appear in them. — Grad. ad Cantab. 
BANGEK. A club-like cane or stick ; a bludgeon. This 
word is one of the Yale vocables. 

The Freshman reluctantly turned the key, 
Expecting a Sophomore gang to see, 
Who, with faces masked and hangers stout. 
Had come resolved to smoke him out. 

Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XX. p. 75. 

BARBER. In the English universities, the college barber is 
often employed by the students to write out or translate the 
impositions incurred by them. Those who by this means gei 
rid of their impositions are said to barherize them. 

So bad was the hand which poor Jenkinson wrote, that the many 
impositions which he incurred would have kept him hard at work 
all day long ; so he barberized them, that is, handed them over to 
the college barber, who had always some poor scholars in his pay. 
This practice of barberizing is not uncommon among a certain class 
of men. — Collegian's Guide, p. 155. 

BARNEY. At Harvard College, about the year 1810, this 
word was used to designate a bad recitation. To barney was 
to recite badly. 

BARNWELL. At Cambridge, Eng., a place of resort for 
characters of bad report. 

One of the most " civihzed " undertook to banter me on my 
non-appearance in the classic regions of Barnwell. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 31. 



20 COLLEGE WORDS 

BARRING-OUT SPREE. At Princeton CoUege, when the 
students find the North College clear of Tutors, which is 
about once a year, they bar up the entrance, get access to 
the bell, and ring it. 

In the "Life of Edward Baines, late M. P. for the Borough 
of Leeds," is an account of a harring-out, as managed at the 
grammar school at Preston, England. It is related in Dick- 
ens's Household Words to this effect. " His master was 
pompous and ignorant, and smote his pupils liberally with 
cane and tongue. It is not surprising that the lads learnt as 
much from the spirit of their master as from his precepts, 
and that one of those juvenile rebellions, better known of 
old than at present as a ' harring-ouf,' was attempted. The 
doors of the school, the biographer narrates, were fastened 
with huge nails, and one of the younger lads was let out to 
obtain supplies of food for the garrison. The rebellion hav- 
ing lasted two or three days, the mayor, town-clerk, and 
officers were sent for to intimidate the offenders. Young 
Baines, on the part of the besieged, answered the magisterial 
summons to surrender, by declaring that they would never 
give in, unless assured of full pardon and a certain length of 
holidays. With much good sense, the mayor gave them till 
the evening to consider; and on his second visit the doors 
were found open, the garrison having fled to the woods of 
Penwortham. They regained their respective homes under 
the cover of night, and some humane interposition averted 
the punishment they had deserved." — Am. Ed. Vol. III. 
p. 415. 

BATTEL. To stand indebted on the college books at Oxford, 
for provisions and drink from the buttery. 

Eat my commons with a good stomach, and battled with discre- 
tion. — Puritan, Malone's Suppl. 2, p. 543. 

Many men " battel" at the rate of a guinea a week. Wealthier 
men, more expensive men, and more careless men, often "5a/- 
telled" much higher. — De Quincey's Life and Manners, p. 274. 

Cotgrave says, " To hattle (as scholars do in Oxford) etre 
debteur au college pour ses vivres." He adds, "Mot use 
seulement des jeunes ecoliers de I'universite d'Oxford." 



AND CUSTOMS. 21 

2. To reside at the university ; to keep terms. — Webster. 

BATTEL. Derived from the old monkish word patella, or 
hatella, a plate. At Oxford, "whatsoever is furnished for 
dinner and for supper, including malt Hquor, but not wine, as 
well as the materials for breakfast, or for any casual refresh- 
ment to country visitors, excepting only groceries," is ex- 
pressed by the word hattels. — De Quincey. 

I on the nail my Battels paid, 
The monster turn'd away dismay 'd. 

The StudentjYol I. p. 115, 1750. 

BATTELEE. ) A student at Oxford who stands indebted, 
BATTLEE. j in the college books, for provisions and drink 
at the buttery. — Webster. 

Halliwell, in his Diet. Arch, and Prov. Words, says, " The 
term is used in contradistinction to gentleman commoner." 
In Gent. Mag., 1787, p. 1146, is the following : — " There 
was formerly at Oxford an order similar to the sizars of Cam- 
bridge, called battelers (batteling having the same signification 
as sizing). The sizar and batteler were as independent as 
any other members of the college, though of an inferior 
order, and were under no obligation to wait upon anybody." 

2. One who keeps terms, or resides at the University. — 
Webster. 

BATTELING-. At Oxford, the act of taking provisions from 
the buttery. Batteling has the same signification as Sizing 
at the University of Cambridge. — Gent. Mag., 1787, p. 1146. 

Batteling in a friend's name, implies eating and drinking 
at his expense. When a person's name is crossed in the but- 
tery, i. e. when he is not allowed to take any articles thence, 
he usually comes into the hall and battels for buttery supplies 
in a friend's name, " for," says the Collegian's Guide, " every 
man can ' take out ' an extra commons, and some colleges 
two, at each meal, for a visitor : and thus, under the name of 
a guest, though at your own table, you escape part of the 
punishment of being crossed." — p. 158. 

2. Spending money. 



22 COLLEGE WORDS 

The business of the latter was to call us of a morning, to distri- 
bute among us our hattUngs, or pocket money, &c. — Dickens's 
Houseiiold Words^ Vol. I. p. 188. 

BAUM. At Hamilton College, to fawn upon ; to flatter ; to 
court the favor of any one. 

B. C. L. Abbreviated for Baccalaureus Givilis Legis, Bach- 
elor in Civil Law. In the University of Oxford, a Bachelor 
in Civil Law must be an M. A. and a regent of three years' 
standing. The exercises necessary to the degree are dispu- 
tations upon two distinct days before the Professors of the 
Faculty of Law. 

In the University of Cambridge, the candidate for this de- 
gree must have resided nine terms (equal to three years), 
and been on the boards of some College for six years, have 
passed the " previous examination," attended the lectures of 
the Professor of Civil Law for three terms, and passed a 
series of examinations in the subject of them ; that is to say, 
in General Jurisprudence, as illustrated by Roman and Eng- 
lish law. The names of those who pass creditably are ar- 
ranged in three classes according to merit. — Lit. World, Vol. 
XIL p. 284. 

This degree is not conferred in the United States. • 

B. D. An abbreviation for Baccalaureus Divinitatis, Bachelor 
in Divinity. In both the English Universities a B. D. must 
be an M. A. of seven years' standing, and at Oxford, a regent 
of the same length of time. The exercises necessary to the 
degree are at Cambridge one act after the fourth year, two 
opponencies, a clerum, and an English sermon. At Oxford, 
disputations are enjoined upon two distinct days before the 
Professors of the Faculty of Divinity, and a Latin sermon is 
preached before the Vice-Chancellor. The degree of The- 
ologise Baccalaureus was conferred at Harvard College on 
Mr. Leverett, afterwards President of that institution, in 
1692, and on Mr. William Brattle in the same year, the only 
instances, it is believed, in which this degree has been given 
in America. 



AND CUSTOMS. 23 

BEADLE. \ An officer in a university, whose chief business 

BEDEL. >- is to walk with a mace, before the masters, in a 

BEDELL. ) public procession ; or, as in America, before the 

president, trustees, facultj^, and students of a college, in a 

procession, at public commencements. — Webster. 

In the English universities there are two classes of Bedels, 
called the Esquire and the Yeoman Bedel. 

Of this officer as connected with Yale College, President 
Woolsey speaks as follows : — " The beadle or his substitute, 
the vice-beadle (for the sheriff of the county came to be in- 
vested with the office), was the master of processions, and a 
sort of gentleman-usher to execute the commands of the 
President. He was a younger graduate settled at or near 
the College. There is on record a diploma of President 
Clap's, investing with this office a graduate of three years' 
standing, and conceding to him ' omnia jura privilegia et 
auctoritates ad Bedelli officium, secundum collegiorum aut 
universitatum leges et consuetudines usitatas ; spectantia.' 
The office, as is well kliown, still exists in the English insti- 
tutions of learning, whence it was transferred first to Harvard 
and thence to this institution." — Hist. Disc, Aug., 1850, 
p. 43. 

Li an account of a Commencement at Williams College, 
Sept. 8, 1795, the order in which the procession was formed 
was as follows : " First, the scholars of the academy ; sec- 
ond, students of college ; third, the sheriff of the county act- 
ing as Bedellus" &c. — Federal Orrery, Sept. 28, 1795. 

The Beadle, by order, made the following declaration. — Clap's 
Hist. Yale Coll., 1766, p. 56. 

It shall be the duty of the Faculty to appoint a College Beadle, 
who shall direct the procession on Commencement day, and pre- 
serve order during the exhibitions. — La^os Yale Coll., 1837, p. 43. 

BED-MAKEP. One whose occupation is to make beds, and, 
as in colleges and universities, to take care of the students* 
rooms. Used both in the United States and England. 

T' other day I caught my hed-maker, a grave old matron, poring 
very seriously over a folio that lay open upon my table. I asked 



24 COLLEGE WORDS 

her what she was reading ? " Lord bless you, master," says she, 
" who I reading ? I never could read in my life, blessed be 
God ; and yet I loves to look into a book too." — The Student, 
Vol. I. p. 55, 1750. 

I asked a hed-maker where Mr. 's chambers were. — Gent. 

Mag., 1795, p. 118. 

While the grim hed-maker provokes the dust. 
And soot-born atoms, which his tomes encrust. 
The College. - — A sketch in verse, in Blackwood's Mag., May, 1849. 
The hed-makers are the women who take care of the rooms ; 
there is about one to each staircase, that is to say, to every eight 
rooms. For obvious reasons they are selected from such of the 
fair sex as have long passed the age at which they might have had 
any personal attractions. The first intimation which your bed- 
maker gives you is that she is bound to report you to the tutor if 
ever you stay out of your rooms all night. — Bristed's Five Years 
in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 15. 
BEER-COMMENT. In the German universities, the stu- 
dent's drinking code. 

The heer-comment of Heidelberg, which gives the student's code 
of drinking, is about twice the length of our University book of 
statutes. — Lond. Quar. Rev., Am. Ed., Vol. LXXIII. p. 56. 
BEMOSSED HEAD. In the German universities, a stu- 
dent during the sixth and last term, or semester, is called a 
Bemossed Head, " the highest state of honor to which man 
can attain." — Hoivitt. 

See Moss-CovERED Head. 
BENE. Latin, well. A word sometimes attached to a writ- 
ten college exercise, by the instructor, as a mark of appro- 
bation. 

When I look back upon my college life. 
And think that I one starveling bene got. 

Harvardlana, Vol. IIL p. 402. 

BENE DISCESSIT. Latin; literally, Ae ^as departed hon- 
orably. This phrase is used in the English universities to 
signify that the student leaves his college to enter another 
by the express consent and approbation of the Master and 
Fellows. — Gradus ad Cantab. 



AND CUSTOMS. 25 

Mr. Pope being about to remove from Trinity to Emmanuel, by 
Bene-Dlscessit, was desirous of taking my rooms. — Alma Mater, 
Yol. I. p. 167. 
BENEFICIARY. One who receives anything as a gift, or is 
maintained by charity. — Blackstone. 

In American colleges, students vv^lio are supported on estab- 
lished foundations are called beneficiaries. Those who receive 
maintenance from the American Education Society are es- 
pecially designated in this manner. 

No student who is a college henejiciary shall remain such any 
longer than he shall continue exemplary for sobriety, dihgence, and 
orderly conduct. — Laws of Univ. at Cam., Mass., 1848, p. 19. 

BEYER. From the Italian hevere, to drink. An intermediate 
refreshment between breakfast and dinner. — Morison. 

At Harvard College, dinner was formerly the only meal 
which was regularly taken in the hall. Instead of breakfast 
and supper, the students were allow^ed to receive a bowl of 
milk or chocolate, with a piece of bread, from the buttery 
hatch, at morning and evening ; this they could eat in the 
yard, or take to their rooms and eat there. At the appointed 
hour for hevers, there was a general rush for the buttery, and 
if the walking happened to be bad, or if it was winter, many 
ludicrous accidents usually occurred. One perhaps would 
slip, his bowl would fly this way and his bread that, while 
he, prostrate, afforded an excellent stumbling-block to those 
immediately behind him ; these, falling in their turn, spat- 
tering with the milk themselves and all near them, holding 
perhaps their spoons aloft, the only thing saved from the 
destruction, would, after disentangling themselves from the 
mass of legs, arms, etc., return to the buttery, and order a 
new bowl, to be charged with the extras at the close of the 
term. 

Similar in thought to this account are the remarks of Pro- 
fessor Sidney Willard concerning Plarvard College in 1794, 
in his late work, entitled, " Memories of Youth and Man- 
hood." " The students who boarded in commons were obliged 
to go to the kitchen-door with their bowls or pitchers for their 
3 



26 COLLEGE WORDS 

suppers, when they received their modicum of milk or choco- 
late in their vessel, held in one hand, and their piece of bread 
in the other, and repaired to their rooms to take their solitary 
repast. There were suspicions at times that the milk was di- 
luted by a mixture of a very common tasteless fluid, which 
led a sagacious Yankee student to put the matter to the test 
by asking the simple carrier-boy why his mother did not mix 
the milk with warm water instead of cold. '■ She does,' re- 
plied the honest youth. This mode of obtaining evening 
commons did not prove in all cases the most economical on 
the part of the fed. It sometimes happened, that, from inad- 
vertence or previous preparation for a visit elsewhere, some 
individuals had arrayed themselves in their dress-coats and 
breeches, and in their haste to be served, and by jostling in 
the crowd, got sadly sprinkled with milk or chocolate, either 
by accident or by the stealthy indulgence of the mischievous 
propensities of those with whom they came in contact ; and 
oftentimes it was a scene of confusion that was not the most 
pleasant to look upon or be engaged in. At breakfast the 
students were furnished, in Commons Hall, with tea, coffee, 
or milk, and a small loaf of bread. The age of a beaker of 
beer with a certain allowance of bread had expired." — Yol. 
I. pp. 313, 314. 

JSTo scholar shall be absent above an hour at morning hever, half 
an hour at evening hever^ &c. — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., "Vol. I. 
p. 517. 

The butler is not bound to stay above half an hour at hevers in 
the buttery after the tolling of the bell. — Ihid., Vol. I. p. 584. 

BEYER. To take a smaU repast between meals. — Wallis. 
BIBLE CLEEK. In the University of Oxford, the Bihle 
clerks are required to attend the service of the chapel, and to 
deliver in a list of the absent undergraduates to the officer 
appointed to enforce the discipline of the institution. Their 
duties are different in different colleges. — Oxford Guide. 

A Bible clerk has seldom too many friends in the University. — 
Blackwood's Mag., Vol. LX., Eng. ed., p. 312, 

In the University of Cambridge, Eng., " a very ancient 



AND CUSTOMS. 27 

scholarship, so called because the student who was promoted 
to that office was enjoined to read the Bible at meal-times." 
— Gradus ad Gantah. 
BIENNIAL EXAMINATION. At Yale College, in addi- 
tion to the public examinations of the classes at the close of 
each term, on the studies of the term, private examinations 
are also held twice in the college course, at the close of the 
Sophomore and Senior years, on the studies of the two pre- 
ceding years. The latter are called Uennial. — Yale Goll. 
Gat. 

" The Biennial,'^ remarks the writer of the preface to the 
Songs of Tale, " is an examination occurring twice during 
the course, — at the close of the Sophomore and of the Sen- 
ior years, — in all the studies pursued during the two years 
previous. It was established in 1850." — Ed. 1853, p. 4. 

The system of examinations has been made more rigid, especially 
b}'' the introduction of hiemiials. — Centennial Anniversary/ of the 
Linonian Sac., Yale Coll., 1853, p. 70. 

Faculty of College got together one night, 

To have a little congratulation, 
For they 'd put their heads together and hatched out a load, 
And called it " Bien. Examination" 

Presentation Day Songs, June 14, 1854. 

BIG- WIG. In the English universities, the higher dignitaries 
among the officers are often spoken of as the big-wigs. 

Thus having anticipated the approbation of all, whether Fresh- 
man, Sophomore, Bachelor, or Big-Wig, our next care is the choice 
of a patron. — Pref to Grad. ad Gantah. 

BISHOP. At Cambridge, Eng., this beverage is compounded 
of port-wine mulled and burnt, with the addenda of roasted 
lemons and cloves. — Gradus ad Gantah. 

We '11 pass round the Bishop, the spice-breathing cup. 

Will. Sentinel's Poems. 
BITCH. Among the students of the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., a common name for tea. 

The reading man gives no swell parties, runs very little Into debt, 
takes his cup of bitch at night, and goes quietly to bed. — Grad. ad 
Cantab., p. 131. 



28 COLLEGE WORDS 

WitL. tlie Queens-men it is not unusual to issue an " At home " 
Tea and Vespers, alias Utch and hymns. — Ihid., Dedication. 

BITCH. At Cambridge, Eng., to take or drink a dish of tea. 
I folloAved, and, having " hitched " (that is, taken a dish of tea), 
arranged my books and boxes. — Alma Alater, Vol. I. p. 30. 

I dined, wined, or hitched with a Medallist or Senior Wrangler. 

— Ibid., Vol. II. p. 218. 

A young man, who performs with great dexterity the honors of 
the tea-table, is, if complimented at all, said to be " an excellent 
hitch." — Gradus ad Cantab, p. 18. 

BLACK BOOK. In the English universities, a gloomy vol- 
ume containing a register of high crimes and misdemeanors. 
At the University of Gottingen, the expulsion of students is 
recorded on a blackboard. — Gradus ad Cantab. 

Sirrah, I '11 have you put in the black book, rusticated, expelled. 

— Miller's Humors of Oxford, Act II. Sc. I. 

All had reason to fear that their names were down in the proc- 
tor's black book. — Collegian's Guide, p. 2 7 7. 

So irksome and borish did I ever find this early rising, spite of 
the health it promised, that I was constantly in the black book of the 
dean. — J./ma Mater, Vol. I. p. 32. 

BLACK-HOOD HOUSE. See Senate. 
BLACK RIDING. At the College of South Carolina, it has 
until within a few years been customary for the students, dis- 
guised and painted black, to ride across the college-yard at 
midnight, on horseback, with vociferations and the sound of 
horns. Black riding is recognized by the laws of the College 
as a very high offence, punishable with expulsion. 
BLEACH. At Harvard College, he was formerly said to 
bleach who preferred to be spiritually rather than bodily 
present at morning prayers. 

'T is sweet Commencement parts to reach, 
But, oh ! 't is doubly sweet to bleach. 

Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 123. 

BLOOD. A hot spark ; a man of spirit ; a rake. A word 
long in use among collegians and by writers who described 
them. 



AND CUSTOMS. ZV 

With some rakes from Boston and a few College Moods, I got 
very drunk. — Monilily Anthology, Boston, 1804, Vol. I. p. 154. 
Indulgent Gods ! exclaimed our Noods. 

The Crayon, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 15. 

BLOOD. At some of the Western colleges this word signifies 
excellent ; as, a Uood recitation. A student who recites well 
is said to mahe a blood. 

BLOODEE. In the Farmer's Weekly Museum, formerly 
printed at Walpole, N. H., appeared August 21, 1797, a 
poetic production, in which occurred these lines : — 

Seniors about to take degrees, 
Not by their wits, but by Uoodees. 

In a note the word hloodee was thus described: "A kind 
of cudgel worn, or rather borne, by the bloods of a certain 
college in New England, 2 feet 5 inches in length, and 1| 
inch in diameter, with a huge piece of lead at one end, em- 
blematical of its owner. A pretty prop for clumsy travellers 
on Parnassus." 

BLOODY. Formerly a college term for daring, rowdy, im- 
pudent. 

Arriving at Lord Bibo's study, 
They thought they 'd be a little Moody ; 
So, with a bold, presumptuous look. 
An honest pinch of snuff they took. 

llehelliad, p. 44. 
They roar'd and bawl'd, and were so Moody, 
As to besiege Lord Bibo's study. 

Ibid., p. 76. 

BLOW, A merry frolic with drinking ; a spree. A person 
intoxicated is said to be hloivn, and Mr. Halliwell, in his 
Diet. Arch, and Prov. Words, has blowboU, a drunkard. 

This word was formerly used by students to designate 

their frolics and social gatherings ; at present, it is not much 

heard, being supplanted by the more common words spi^eCy 

tight, &c. 

My fellow-students had been engaged at a Moiu till the stage- 

3* 



80 COLLEGE WORDS 

liorn had summoned them to depart. — Harvard Register, 1827-28, 
p. 172. 

No soft adagio from the muse of Uows, 
E'er roused indignant from serene repose. 

lUd., p. 233. 
And, if no coming Uow his thoughts engage, 
Lights candle and cigar. 

lUd., p. 235. 
The person who engages in a blow is also called a Mow. 
I could see, in the long vista of the past, the many hardened 
blows who had rioted here around the festive board. — Collegian, 
p. 231. 

BLUE. In several American colleges, a student who is very 
strict in observing the laws, and conscientious in performing 
his duties, is styled a hlue. " Our real delvers, midnight 
students," says a correspondent from "Williams College, " are 
called hliier 

I would n't carry a novel into chapel to read, not out of any 
respect for some people's old-womanish twaddle about the sacred- 
ness of the place, — but because some of the hlues might see you. 
—Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XV. p. 81. 

Each jolly soul of them, save the hlues. 

Were doffing their coats, vests, pants, and shoes. 

Yale Gallinipper, Nov. 1848. 
None ever knew a sober " Uue," 
In this " blood crowd " of ours. 

Yale TomahawTc, Nov. 1849. 
Luciaa called him a hlue, and fell back in his chair in a pouting 
fit.— The Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 118. 

To acquire popularity, .... he must lose his money at bluff and 
euchre without a sigh, and damn up hill and down the sober 
church-going man, as an out-and-out hlue. — The Parthenon, Union 
Coll., 1851, p. 6. 

BLUE-LIGHT. At the University of Vermont this term is 
used, writes a correspondent, to designate " a boy who sneaks 
about college, and reports to the Faculty the short-comings 
of his fellow-students. A Uue-light is occasionally found 
watching the door of a room where a party of jolly ones are 



AND CUSTOMS. 31 

roasting a turkey (which in justice belongs to the nearest 
farm-house), that he may go to the Faculty with the story, 
and tell them who the boys are." 

BLUES. The name of a party which formerly existed at 
Dartmouth College. In The Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 117, 
1842, is the following: — "The students here are divided 
into two parties, — the Rowes and the Blues, The Eowes 
are very liberal in their notions ; the Blues more strict. 
The Howes don't pretend to say anything worse of a fellow 
than to call him a Blue, and vice versar 
See Indigo and Rowes. 

BLUE-SKIN. This word was formerly in use at some 
American colleges, with the meaning now given to the word 
Blue, q. v. 

I, with my little colleague here, 

Forth issued from my cell, 
To see if we could overhear, 

Or make some 'blue-skin tell. 

The Crayon, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 22. 

BOARD. The hoards, or college hoards, in the English uni- 
versities, are long wooden tablets on which the names of the 
members of each college are inscribed, according to seniority, 
generally hung up in the buttery. — Gradus ad Cantab. 
Webster. 

I gave in my resignation this time without recall, and took my 
name off the hoards. — Brisieds Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, p. 291. 

Similar to this was the list of students which was formerly 
kept at Harvard College, and probably at Yale. Judge 
Wingate, who graduated at the former institution in 1759, 
writes as follows in reference to this subject : — " The Fresh- 
man Class was, in my day at college, usually placed (as 
it was termed) within six or nine months after their ad- 
mission. The official notice of this was given by having 
their names written in a large German text, in a handsome 
style, and placed in a conspicuous part of the College But- 



32 COLLEGE WOKDS 

tery, where the names of the four classes of undergraduates 
were kept suspended until they left College. If a scholar 
was expelled, his name was taken from its place ; or if he 
was degraded (which was considered the next highest pun- 
ishment to expulsion), it was moved accordingly." — Peirce's 
Hist Harv. Univ., p. 311. 

BOGS. Among English Cantabs, a privy. — Gradus ad 
Cantah. 

BOHN. A translation ; a pony. The volumes of Bohn's 
Classical Library are in such general use among undergrad- 
uates in American colleges, that Bohn has come to be a 
common name for a translation. 

'T was plenty of skin with a good deal of Bolin. 

Songs, Biennial Jubilee, Yale Coll., 1855. 

BOLT. An omission of a recitation or lecture. A corre- 
spondent from Union College gives the following account of 
it : — " In West College, where the Sophomores and Fresh- 
men congregate, when there was a famous orator expected, 
or any unusual spectacle to be witnessed in the city, we 
would call a. 'class meeting,' to consider upon the propriety 

of asking Professor for a holt. We had our chairman, 

and the subject being debated, was generally decided in favor 
of the remission. A committee of good steady fellows were 
selected, who forthwith waited upon the Professor, and, 
after urging the matter, commonly returned with the wel- 
come assurance that we could have a holt from the next 
recitation." 

One writer defines a holt in these words : — " The pro- 
miscuous stampede of a class collectively. Caused generally 
by a few seconds' tardiness of the Professor, occasionally by 
finding the lock of the recitation-room door filled with shot." 
— Sophomore Independent, Union College, Nov. 1854. 

The quiet routine of college life had remained for some days 
undisturbed, even by a single hdt. — Williams Quarterly, Vol.11, 
p. 192. 

BOLT. At Union College, to be absent from a recitation, on 



AND CUSTOMS. 33 

the conditions related under the noun Bolt. Followed by 
from. At Vt^illiams College, the word is applied with a 
different signification. A correspondent writes : " We some- 
times holt from a recitation before the Professor arrives, and 
the term most strikingly suggests the derivation, as our 
movements in the case would somewhat resemble a ' streak 
of lightning,' — a thunder-5o/^." 

BOLTER. At Union College, one who holts from a reci- 
tation. 

2. A correspondent from the same college says : " If a 
student is unable to answer a question in the class, and 
declares himself unprepared, he also is a ' holier' " 

BONFIRE. The making of bonfires, by students, is not an 
unfrequent occurrence at many of our colleges, and is usually 
a demonstration of dissatisfaction, or is done merely for the 
sake of the excitement. It is accounted a high offence, and 
at Harvard College is prohibited by the following law: — 
" In case of a bonfire, or unauthorized fireworks or illu- 
mination, any students crying fire, sounding an alarm, leaving 
their rooms, shouting or clapping from the windows, going 
to the fire or being seen at it, going into the college yard, 
or assembling on account of such bonfire, shall be deemed 
aiding and abetting such disorder, and punished accordingly." 
— Laws, 1848, Bonfires. 

A correspondent from Bowdoin College writes : " Bon- 
fires occur regularly twice a year ; one on the night preced- 
ing the annual State Fast, and the other is built by the 
Freshmen on the night following the yearly examination. 
A pole some sixty or seventy feet long is raised, around 
which brush and tar are heaped to a great height. The con- 
struction of the pile occupies from four to five hours." 

Not ye, whom midnight cry ne'er urged to run 
In search of fire, when fire there had been none ; 
Unless, perchance, some pump or hay-mound threw 
Its bonfire lustre o'er a jolly crew. 

Harvard Register, p. 233. 



34 COLLEGE WOKDS 

BOOK-KEEPER. At Harvard College, students are allowed 
to go out of town on Saturday, after the exercises, but are 
required, if not at evening prayers, to enter their names be- 
fore 10 P.M. with one of the officers appointed for that 
purpose. Students were formerly required to report them- 
selves before 8 P. M., in winter, and 9, in summer, and the 
person who registered the names was a member of the 
Freshman Class, and was called the hook-heeper. 

I strode over the bridge, with a rapidity which grew with my 
vexation, my distaste for wind, cold, and wet, and my anxiety to 
reach my goal ere the hour appointed should expire, and the hook- 
keeper's light should disappear from his window ; 
" For while his light holds out to burn, 
The vilest sinner may return." — Collegian, p. 225. 

See Freshman, College. 

BOOK-WOEK. Among students at Cambridge, Eng., all 
mathematics that can be learned verbatim from books, — all 
that are not problems. — Brisfed. 

He made a good fight of it, and beat the Trinity man a 

Httle on the hook-iuork. — BristecTs Five Years in an Eng. Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 96. 

The men are continually writing out book-work, either at home 
or in their tutor's rooms. — Ibid., p. 149. 

BOOT-FOX. This name was at a former period given, in the 
German universities, to a fox, or a student in his first half- 
year, from the fact of his being required to black the boots 
of his more advanced comrades. 

BOOTLICK. To fawn upon ; to court favor. 

Scorns the acquaintance of those he deems beneath him ; refuses 
to bootlick men for their votes. — The Parthenon, Union Coll., Vol. 
I. p. 6. 

The " Wooden Spoon " exhibition passed off without any such 
hubbub, except where the pieces were of such a character as to 
offend the delicacy and modesty of some of those crouching,, fawn- 
ing, bootlicking hypocrites. — The Gallinipper, Dec. 1849. 

BOOTLICKER. A student who seeks or gains favor from 
a teacher by flattery or officious civilities; one who curries 



AND CUSTOMS. 35 

favor. A correspondent from Union College writes : " As 
you watch the students more closely, you will perhaps find 
some of them particularly officious towards j^our teacher, and 
very apt to linger after recitation to get a clearer knowledge 
of some passage. They are BootUchs, and that is known as 
Bootlicking ; a reproach, I am sorry to say, too indiscrimi- 
nately applied." At Yale, and other colleges, a tutor or any 
other officer who informs against the students, or acts as a 
spy upon their conduct, is also called a hootlich 

Three or four hootUckers rise. — Yale Banger, Oct. 1848. 
The rites of Wooden Spoons we next recite, 
When dootlick hypocrites upraised their might. 

Ibid., Nov. 1849. 

Then he arose, and offered himself as a " hootUck " to the Fac- 
ulty.— Fa^e Battery, Feb. 14, 1850. 

BOOTS. At the College of South Carolina it is customary to 

present the most unpopular member of a class with a pair 

. of handsome red-topped boots, on which is inscribed the word 

Beauty. They were formerly given to the ugliest person, 

whence the inscription. 

BORE. A tiresome person or unwelcome visitor, who makes 
himself obnoxious by his disagreeable manners, or by a repe- 
tition of visits. • — Bartlett. 

A person or thing that wearies by iteration. — Webster. 
Although the use of this word is very general, yet it is so 
peculiarly applicable to the many annoyances to which a col- 
legian is subjected, that it has come by adoption to be, to a 
certain extent, a student term. One writer classes under this 
title " text-books generally ; the Professor who marks slight 
mistakes ; the familiar young man who calls continually, and 
when he finds the door fastened demonstrates his verdant 
curiosity by revealing an inquisitive countenance through the 
ventilator." — Sophomore Independent, Union College, Nov. 
1854. 

In college parlance, prayers, when the morning is cold or 
rainy, are a bore ; a hard lesson is a bore ; a dull lecture or 
lecturer is a hare ; and, par excellence, an unwelcome visitor h 



36 COLLEGE WORDS 

a hore of hores. This latter personage is well described in 
the following lines : — 

• " Next comes the bore, with visage sad and pale, 

And tortures you with some lugubrious tale ; 
Eelates stale jokes collected near and far. 
And in return expects a choice cigar ; 
Your brandy-punch he calls the merest sham. 
Yet does not scruple to partake a dram. 
His prying eyes your secret nooks explore ; 
No place is sacred to the college bore. 
Not e'en the letter filled with Helen's praise, 
Escapes the sight of his unhalloAved gaze ; 
Ere one short hour its silent course has flown. 
Your Helen's charms to half the class are known. 
Your books he takes, nor deigns your leave to ask, 
Such forms to him appear a useless task. 
When themes unfinished stare you in the face, 
Then enters one of this accursed race. 
Though like the Angel bidding John to write^ 
Frail ****** form uprises to thy sight, 
His stupid stories chase your thoughts away. 
And drive you mad wit]i his unwelcome stay. 
When he, departing, creaks the closing door. 
You raise the Grecian chorus, KiKKa^av" * 

MS. Poem, F. E. Felton, Harv. Coll. 

BOS. At the University of Virginia, the desserts which the 
students, according to the statutes of college, are allowed 
twice per week, are respectively called the Senior and Junior 
Bos, 

BOSH. Nonsense, trash, cf)\vapia. An English Canfab's ex- 
pression. — Bristed. 

But Spriggins's pecuhar forte is that kind of talk which some 
people irreverently call " losli." — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XX. p. 259. 

BOSKY. In the cant of the Oxonians, being tipsy. — Grose. 
Now when he comes home fuddled, alias Bosky, I shall not be so 
unmannerly as to say his Lordship ever gets drunk. — The Sizar, 
cited in Gradus ad Cantab., pp. 20, 21. 

* Vide Aristophanes, Aves, 



AND CUSTOMS. 37 

BOWEL. At Harvard College, a student in common par- 
lance will express his destitution or poverty by saying, " I 
have not a howeir The use of the word with this significa- 
tion has arisen, probably, from a jocular reference to a quaint 
Scriptural expression. 

BRACKET. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the re- 
sult of the final examination in the Senate-House is published 
in lists signed by the examiners. In these lists the names of 
those who have been examined are "placed in individual 
order of merit." When the rank of two or three men is the 
same, their names are inclosed in hrachets. 

At the close of the course, and before the examination is con- 
cluded, there is made out a new arrangement of the classes called 
the Brackets. These, in which each is placed according to merit, 
are hung upon the pillars in the Senate-House. — Alma Mater, 
Vol. n. p. 93. 

As there is no provision in the printed lists for expressing the 
number of marks by which each man beats the one next below him, 
and there may be more difference between the twelfth and thir- 
teenth than between the third and twelfth, it has been proposed to 
extend the use of the brackets (which are now only employed in 
cases of literal equality between two or three men), and put togeth- 
er six, eight, or ten, whose marks are nearly equal. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 227. 

BRACKET. In a general sense, to place in a certain order. 

I very early in the Sophomore year gave up all thoughts of 
obtaining high honors, and settled down contentedly among the 
twelve or fifteen who are bracketed, after the first two or three, as 
" English Orations." — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, p. 6. 

There remained but two, bracketed at the foot of the class. — 
Ibid., p. 62. 

The Trinity man who was bracketed Senior Classic. — Ibid., 
p. 187. 

BRANDER. In the German universities a name given to a 
student during his second term. 

Meanwhile large tufts and strips of paper had been twisted into 
the hair of the Branders, as those are called who have been already 
4 



38 COLLEGE WORDS 

one term at the University, and tlien at a given signal were set on 
fire, and the Branders rode round the table on chairs, amid roars of 
laughter. — Longfellow^ s Hyperion^ p. 114. 

See Brand-Fox, Burnt Fox. 
BIvAND-FOX. A student in a German university " becomes 
a Brand-fuchs, or fox with a brand, after the foxes of Sam- 
son," in his second half-year. — Howitt. 
BE-ICK. A gay, wild, thoughtless fellow, but not so hard as 
the word itself might seem to imply. 

He is a queer fellow, — not so bad as he seems, — his own ene- 
my, but a regular hrick. — Collegian's Guide, p. 143. 

He will come himself (public tutor or private), like a hick as he 
is, and consume his share of the generous potables. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Unii)., Ed. 2d, p. 78. 

See Like a Brick. 

BRICK MILL. At the University of Vermont, the students 
speak of the college as the Brick Mill, or the Old Brick 
Mill. 

BULL. At Dartmouth College, to recite badly ; to make a 
poor recitation. From the substantive hdl, a blunder or 
contradiction, or from the use of the word as a prefix, signi- 
fying large, lubberly, blundering. 

BULL-DOG. In the English universities, the lictor or servant 
who attends a proctor when on duty. 

Sentiments which vanish for ever at the sight of the proctor with 
his hull-dogs, as they call them, or four muscular fellows which al- 
ways follow him, hke so many bailiffs. — Westminster Rev., Am. 
Ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 232. 

The proctors, through their attendants, commonly called &uZ^- 
cZo^.?, received much certain information, &c. — Collegian's Guide, 

p. 170. 

And he had breathed the proctor's dogs. 

Tennyson, Prologue to Princess. 

BULLY CLUB. The following account of the Bidly Club, 
which was formerly a most honored transmittendu in at Yale 
College, is taken from an entertaining little work, entitled 
Sketches of Yale College. ^^Bidlyism had its origin, like 



AND CUSTOMS. 39 

everything else that is venerated, far back in antiquity ; no 
one pretends to know the era (ff its commencement, nor to 
say with certainty what was the cause of its establishment, 
or the original design of the institution. We can only learn 
from dim and doubtful tradition, that many years ago, no one 
knows how many, there was a feud between students and 
townsmen : a sort of general ill-feeling, which manifested 
itself in the lower classes of society in rudeness and insult. 
Not patiently borne with, it grew worse and worse, until a 
regular organization became necessary for defence against 
the nightly assaults of a gang of drunken rowdies. Nor 
were their opponents disposed to quit the unequal fight. An 
organization in opposition followed, and a band of tipsy 
townsmen, headed by some hardy tars, took the field, were 
met, no one knows whether in offence or defence, and after 
a fight repulsed, and a huge knotty club wrested from their 
leader. This trophy of personal courage was preserved, 
the organization perpetuated, and the Bully Club was every 
year, with procession and set form of speech, bestowed upon 
the newly acknowledged leader. But in process of time the 
organization has assumed a different character: there was 
no longer need of a system of defence, — the " Bully " was 
still acknowledged as class leader. He marshalled all pro- 
cessions, was moderator of all meetings, and performed the 
various duties of a chief. The title became now a matter of 
dispute; it sounded harsh and rude to ears polite, and a 
strong party proposed a change: but the supporters of an- 
tiquity pleaded the venerable character of the customs identi- 
fied almost with the College itself. Thus the classes were 
divided, a part electing a marshal, class-leader, or moderator, 
and a part still choosing a hully and minor huUy — the latter 
usually the least of their number — from each class, and 
still bestowing on them the wonted clubs, mounted with gold, 
the badges of their office. 

" Unimportant as these distinctions seem, they formed the 
ground of constant controversy, each party claiming for its 
leader the precedence, until the dissensions ended in a scene 



40 COLLEGE WORDS 

of confusion too well known to need detail : the usual pro- 
cession on Commencement day was broken up, and the 
partisans fell upon each other pell-mell ; scarce heeding, in 
their hot fray, the orders of the Faculty, the threats of the 
constables, or even the rebuke of the chief magistrate of the 
State ; the alumni were left to find their seats in church as 
they best could, the aged and beloved President following in 
sorrow, unescorted, to perform the duties of the day. It 
need not be told that the disputes Avere judicially ended by a 
peremptory ordinance, prohibiting all class organizations of 
any name whatever." 

A more particular account of the Bully Club, and of the 
manner in which the students of Yale came to possess it, is 
given in the annexed extract. 

"Many years ago, the farther back towards the Middle 
Ages the better, some students went out one evening to an 
inn at Dragon, g^s it was then called, now the populous and 
pretty village of Fair Haven, to regale themselves ' with an 
oyster supper, or for some other kind of recreation. They 
there fell into an aifray with the young men of the place, a 
hardy if not a hard set, who regarded their presence there, 
at their own favorite resort, as an intrusion. The students 
proved too few for their adversaries. They reported the mat- 
ter at College, giving an aggravated account of it, and, being 
strongly reinforced, went out the next evening to renew the 
fight. The oystermen and sailors were prepared for them. 
A desperate conflict ensued, chiefly in the house, above 
stairs and below, into which the sons of science entered pell- 
mell. Which came off the worse, I neither know nor care, 
believing defeat to be far less discreditable to either party, 
and especially to the students, than the fact of their engaging 
in such a brawl. Where the matter itself is essentially dis- 
graceful, success or failure is indifferent, as it regards the 
honor of the actors. Among the Dragoners, a great bully 
of a fellow, who appeared to be their leader, wielded a huge 
club, formed from an oak limb, with a gnarled excrescence on 
the end, heavy enough to battle with an elephant. A student 



AND CUSTOMS.. 41 

remarkable for his strength in the arms and hands, griped 
the fellow so hard about the wrist that his fingers opened, 
and let the club fall. It was seized, and brought off as a 
trophy. Such is the history of the Bully Club. It became 
the occasion of an annual election of a person to take charge 
of it, and to act as leader of the students in case of a quarrel 
between them and others. ' Bully ' was the title of this chiv- 
alrous and high office." — Scenes and Characters in College^ 
New Haven, 1847, pp.215, 216. 

BUMPTIOUS. Conceited, forward, pushing. An English 
Cantab's expression. — Bristed, 

About nine, A. M., the new scholars are announced from the 
chapel gates. On this occasion it is not etiquette for the candidates 
themselves to be in waiting, — it looks too " bumptious" — Brisied's 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ.j Ed, 2d, p. 193. 

BURIAL OF EUCLID. " The custom of bestowing burial 
honors upon the ashes of Euclid with becoming demonstra- 
tions of respect has been handed down," says the author of 
the Sketches of Yale College, " from time immemorial." 
The account proceeds as follows : — " This book, the terror 
of the dilatory and unapt, having at length been completely 
mastered, the class, as their acquaintance with the Greek 
mathematician is about to close, assemble in their respective 
places of meeting, and prepare (secretly for fear of the Fac- 
ulty) for the anniversary. The necessary committee having 
been appointed, and the regular preparations ordered, a cere- 
mony has sometimes taken place like the following. The 
huge poker is heated in the old stove, and driven through 
the smoking volume, and the division, marshalled in line, for 
once at least see through the whole affair. They then march 
over it in solemn procession, and are enabled, as they step 
firmly on its covers, to assert with truth that they have gone 
over it, — poor jokes indeed, but sufficient to afford abundant 
laughter. And then follow speeches, comical and pathetic, 
and shouting and merriment. The night assigned having 
arrived, how carefully they assemble, all silent, at the place 
appointed. Laid on its bier, covered with sable pall, and 
4* 



4i COLLEGE WORDS 

borne in solemn state, the corpse (i. e. the book) is carried 
with slow procession, with the moaning music of flutes and 
fifes, the screaming of fiddles, and the thumping and mum- 
bling of a cracked drum, to the open grave or the funeral 
pyre. A gleaming line of blazing torches and twinkling 
lanterns wave along the quiet streets and through the opened 
fields, and the snow creaks hoarsely under the tread of a 
hundred men. They reach the scene, and a circle forms 
around the consecrated spot; if the ceremony is a burial, 
the defunct is laid all carefully in his grave, and then his 
friends celebrate in prose or verse his memory, his virtues, 
and his untimely end : and three oboli are tossed into his tomb 
to satisfy the surly boatman of the Styx. Lingeringly is the 
last look taken of the familiar countenance, as the procession 
passes slowly around the tomb ; and the moaning is made, — 
a sound of groans going up to the seventh heavens, — and the 
earth is thrown in, and the headstone with epitaph placed 
duly to hallow the grave of the dead. Or if, according to 
the custom of his native land, the body of Euclid is com- 
mitted to the funeral flames, the pyre, duly prepared with 
combustibles, is made the centre of the ring ; a ponderous 
jar of turpentine or whiskey is the fragrant incense, and as 
the lighted fire mounts up in the still night, and the alarm in 
the city sounds dim in the distance, the eulogium is spoken, 
and the memory of the illustrious dead honored; the urn 
receives the sacred ashes, which, borne in solemn proces- 
sion, are placed in some conspicuous situation, or solemnly 
deposited in some fitting sarcophagus. So the sport ends ; 
a song, a loud hurrah, and the last jovial roysterer seeks 
short and profound slumber." — pp. 166-169. 

The above was written in the year 1843. That the inter- 
est in the observance of this custom at Yale College has not 
since that time diminished, may be inferred from the follow- 
ing account of the exercises of the Sophomore Class of 1850, 
on parting company with their old mathematical friend, given 
by a correspondent of the New York Tribune. 

" Arrangements having been well matured, notice was 



AND CUSTOMS. 43 

secretly given out on Wednesday last that the obsequies 
would be celebrated that evening at 'Barney's Hall/ on 
Church Street. An excellent band of music was engaged 
for the occasion, and an efficient Force Committee assigned 
to their duty, who performed their office with great credit, 
taking singular care that no * tutor' or 'spy' should secure an 
entrance to the hall. The ' countersign ' selected was ' Zeus,' 
and fortunately was not betrayed. The hall being full at 
half past ten, the doors were closed, and the exercises com- 
menced with music. Then followed numerous pieces of vari- 
ous character, and among them an Oration, a Poem, Funeral 
Sermon (of a very metaphysical character), a Dirge, and, at 
the grave, a Prayer to Pluto. These pieces all exhibited 
taste and labor, and were acknowledged to be of a higher tone 
than that of any productions which have ever been delivered 
on a similar occasion. Besides these, there were several 
songs interspersed throughout the Programme, in both Latin 
and English, which were sung with great jollity and effect. 
The band added greatly to the character of the performances, 
by their frequent and appropriate pieces. A large coffin was 
placed before the altar, within which lay the veritable Euclid, 
arranged in a becoming winding-sheet, the body being com- 
posed of combustibles, and these thoroughly saturated with 
turpentine. The company left the hall at half past twelve, 
formed in an orderly procession, preceded by the band, and 
bearing the coffin in their midst. Those who composed the 
procession were arrayed in disguises, to avoid detection, and 
bore a full complement of brilliant torches. The skeleton of 
Euclid (a faithful caricature), himself bearing a torch, might 
have been seen dancing in the midst, to the great amusement 
of all beholders. They marched up Chapel Street as far as 
the south end of 'the College, where they were saluted with 
three hearty cheers by their fellow-students, and then contin- 
ued through College Street in front of the whole College 
square, at the north extremity of which they were again 
greeted by cheers, and thence followed a circuitous way to 
quasi Potter's Field, about a mile from the city, where the 



44 COLLEGE WORDS 

concluding ceremonies were performed. These consist of 
walking over tlie coffin, thus surmounting the difficulties of 
the author ; boring a hole through a copy of Euclid with a 
hot iron, that the class may see through it ; and finally burn- 
ing it upon the funeral pyre, in order to throw light upon the 
subject. After these exercises, the procession returned, with 
music, to the State-House, where they disbanded, and re- 
turned to their desolate habitations. The affair surpassed 
anything of the kind that has ever taken place here, and 
nothing was wanting to render it a complete performance. 
It testifies to the spirit and character of the class of '53." — 
Literary World, Nov. 23, 1850, from the JVew York Tribune. 

In the Sketches of Williams College, printed in the year 
1847, is a description of the manner in which the funeral ex- 
ercises of Euclid are sometimes conducted in that institution. 
It is as follows : — "The burial took place last night. The 
class assembled in the recitation-room in full numbers, at 9 
o'clock. The deceased, much emaciated, and in a torn and 
tattered dress, was stretched on a black table in the centre of 
the room. This table, by the way, was formed of the old 
blackboard, which, like a mirror, had so often reflected the 
image of old Euclid. In the body of the corpse was a trian- 
gular hole, made for the post mortem examination, a report of 
which was read. Through this hole, those who wished were 
allowed to look ; and then, placing the body on their heads, 
they could say with truth that they had for once seen through 
and understood Euclid. 

" A eulogy was then pronounced, followed by an oration 
and the reading of the epitaph, after which the class formed 
a procession, and marched with slow and solemn tread to the 
place of burial. The spot selected was in the woods, half a 
mile south of the College. As we approached the place, we 
saw a bright fire burning on the altar of turf, and torches 
gleaming through the dark pines. All was still, save the oc- 
casional sympathetic groans of some forlorn bull-frogs, which 
came up like minute-guns from the marsh below. 

"When we arrived at the spot, the sexton received the 



AND CUSTOMS. 45 

body. This dignitary presented rather a grotesque appear- 
ance. He wore a white robe bound around his waist with a 
black scarf, and on his head a black, conical-shaped hat, some 
three feet high. Having fastened the remains to the extrem- 
ity of a long, black wand, he held them in the fire of the 
altar until they were nearly consumed, and then laid the 
charred mass in the urn, muttering an incantation in Latin. 
The urn being buried deep in the ground, we formed a ring 
around the grave, and sung the dirge. Then, lighting our 
torches by the dying fire, we retraced our steps with feelings 
suited to the occasion." — pp. 74-76. 

Of this observance the writer of the preface to the " Songs 
of Yale " remarks : " The Burial of Euclid is an old cere- 
mony practised at many colleges. At Yale it is conducted 
by the Sophomore Class during the first term of the year. 
After literary exercises within doors, a procession is formed, 
which proceeds at midnight through the principal streets of 
the city, with music and torches, conveying a coffin, supposed 
to contain the body of the old mathematician, to the funeral 
pile, when the whole is fired and consumed to ashes." — 1853, 
p. 4 

From the lugubrious songs which are usually sung on these 
sad occasions, the following dirge is selected. It appears in 
the order of exercises for the " Burial of Euclid by the Class 
of '57," which took place at Yale College, November 8, 1854. 

Tune, — '■'■Auld Lang Syne." 
I. 

Come, gather all ye tearful Sophs, 

And stand around the ring ; 
Old Euclid 's dead, and to his shade 

A requiem we '11 sing : 
Then join the saddening chorus, all 

Ye friends of Euclid true ; 
Defunct, he can no longer bore, 

" ^eC ^ei), ol /Liot, ^eO ^eC" * 

* Alcestis of Euripides. 



46 COLLEGE WORDS 

II. 

Thougli we to Pluto deadicate, 

No god to take him deigns, 
So, one short year from now will Fate 

Bring back his sad re-manes : 
For at Biennial his ghost 

Will prompt the tutor blue, 
And every fizzling Soph will cry, 

" ^€v (pev, oi iioi^ <p€V <p€V." 
III. 
Though here we now his corpus burn, 

And flames about him roar. 
The future Fresh shall say, that he 's 

" Not dead, but gone before" : 
We close around the dusky bier, 

And pall of sable hue. 
And silently we drop the tear ; 

" ^ev (pev, oi jj-ol^ (pev (pev" 

BURLESQUE BILL. At Princeton College, it is custom- 
ary for the members of the Sophomore Class to hold annu- 
ally a Sophomore Commencement, caricaturing that of the 
Senior Class. The Sophomore Commencement is in turn 
travestied by the Junior Class, who prepare and publish Bur- 
lesque Bills, as they are called, in which, in a long and formal 
programme, such subjects and speeches are attributed to the 
members of the Sophomore Class as are calculated to expose 
their weak points. 

See SoPHOMOEE Commencement. 

BURLINGTON. At Middlebury College, a water-closet; 
privy. So called on account of the good-natured rivalry 
between that institution and the University of Vermont at 
Burlington. 

BURNING OF CONIC SECTIONS. "This is a cere- 
mony," writes a correspondent, " observed by the Sophomore 
Class of Trinity College, on the Monday evening of Com- 
mencement week. The incremation of this text-book is made 
by the entire class, who appear in fantastic rig and in torch- 
light procession. The ceremonies are held in the College 



AND CUSTOMS. 47 

grove, and are graced with an oration and poem. The exer- 
cises are usually closed by a class supper." 
BURNING OF CONVIVIUM. Convivium is a Greek book 
which is studied at Hamilton College during the last term of 
the Freshman year, and is considered somewhat difficult. 
Upon entering Sophomore it is customary to burn it, with 
exercises appropriate to the occasion. The time being ap- 
pointed, the class hold a meeting and elect the marshals of 
the night. A large pyre is built during the evening, of rails 
and pine wood, on the middle of which is placed a barrel of 
tar, surrounded by straw saturated with turpentine. Notice 
is then given to the upper classes that Convivium will be 
burnt that night at twelve o'clock. Their company is re- 
quested at the exercises, which consist of two poems, a trag- 
edy, and a funeral oration. A coffin is laid out with the 
" remains " of the book, and the literary exercises are per- 
formed. These concluded, the class form a procession, pre- 
ceded by a brass band playing a dirge, and march to the pyre, 
around which, with uncovered heads, they solemnly form. 
The four bearers with their torches then advance silently, 
and place the coffin upon the funeral pile. The class, each 
member bearing a torch, form a circle around the pyre. At 
a given signal they all bend forward together, and touch their 
torches to the heap of combustibles. In an instant " a lurid 
flame arises, licks around the coffin, and shakes its tongue to 
heaven." To these ceremonies succeed festivities, which are 
usually continued until daylight. 

BURNING OF ZUMPT'S LATIN GRAMMAR. The 
funeral rites over the body of this book are performed by the 
students in the University of New York. The place of 
burning and burial is usually at Hoboken. Scenes of this 
nature often occur in American colleges, having their origin, 
it is supposed, in the custom at Yale of burying Euclid. 

BURNT FOX. A student during his second half-year, in the 
German universities, is called a burnt fox. 

BURSAR, pi. BuRSARii. A treasurer or cash-keeper ; as, 
the hursar of a college or of a monastery. 



48 COLLEGE WORDS 

The said College in Cambridge shall be a corporation consisting 
of seven persons, to wit, a President, five Fellows, and a Treasurer 
or Bursar. — Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., App., p. 11. 

Every student is required on his arrival, at the commencement 
of each session, to deliver to the Bursar the moneys and drafts for 
money which he has brought with him. It is the duty of the Bur- 
sar to attend to the settlement of the demands for board, &c. ; to 
pay into the hands of the student such sums as are required for 
other necessary expenses, and to render a statement of the same to 
the parent or guardian at the close of the session. — Catalogue of 
Univ. of North Carolina, 1848-49, p. 27. 

2. A student to whom a stipend is paid out of a burse or 
fund appropriated for that purpose, as the exhibitioners sent 
to the universities in Scotland, by each presbytery. — Webster. 

See a full account in Brande's Diet, Science, Lit, and Art, 
BURSARY. The treasury of a college or monastery. — 
Webster. 

2. In Scotland, an exhibition. — Encyc. 
BURSCH (bursh), pi. Burschen. German. A youth ; es- 
pecially a student in a German university. 

" By bursche,'^ says Howitt, " we understand one who has 
already spent a certain time at the university, — and who, to 
a certain degree, has taken part in the social practices of the 
students." — Student Life of Germany, Am. Ed., p. 27. 

Unb \)At bei" S5urfd; fettt ©elt) im SSeutct, 

<®o pumvt ev i>ie ^Ijilif^ei- an, 
llnt> fcetift; e^ tfl t>ocl? UiU^ ettct 

S5oitt Q5uvfcl;cn Ms? jum 5Sme(man. 

Cramhambuli Song. 

Student life ! BurscJien life ! What a magic sound have these 
words for him who has learnt for himself their real meaning. — 
Howiti's Student Life of Germany. 

BURSCHENSCHAFT. A league or secret association of 
students, formed in 1815, for the purpose, as was asserted, of 
the political regeneration of Germany, and suppressed, at 
least in name, by the exertions of the government. — Brande. 
" The Burschenschaft," says the Yale Literary Magazine, 
" was a society formed in opposition to the vices and follies of 



AND CUSTOMS. 49 

the Landsmannschaft, with the motto, ' God, Honor, Free- 
dom, Fatherland.' Its object was 'to develop and perfect 
every mental and bodily power for the service of the Father- 
land.' It exerted a mighty and salutary influence, was al- 
most supreme in its power, but was finally suppressed by the 
government, on account of its alleged dangerous political ten- 
dencies." — Vol. XY. p. 3. 

BURSE. In France, a fund or foundation for the maintenance 
of poor scholars in their studies. In the Middle Ages, it sig- 
nified a little college, or a hall in a university. — Webster. 

BURST. To fail in reciting ; to make a bad recitation. This 
word is used in some of the Southern colleges. 

BURT. At Union College, a privy is called the Burt, from 
a person of that name, who many years ago was employed 
as the architect and builder of the latrince of that institu- 
tion. 

BUSY. An answer often given by a student, when he does 
not wish to see visitors. 

Poor Croak was almost annihilated by this summons, and, cling- 
ing to the bed-clothes in all the agony of despair, forgot to busy liis 
midnight visitor. — Harv. Reg., p. 84. 

"Whenever, during that sacred season, a knock salutes my door, 
I respond with a busy. — Collegian, p. 25. 

" Busy " is a hard word to utter, often, though heart and con- 
science and the college clock require it. — Scenes and Characters 
in College .f p. 58. 

BUTLER. Anciently written Botiler. A servant or ofiicer 
whose principal business is to take charge of the hquors, 
food, plate, &c. In the old laws of Harvard College we 
find an enumeration of the duties of the college butler. Some 
of them were as follows. 

He was to keep the rooms and utensils belonging to his 
office sweet and clean, fit for use ; his drinking-vessels were 
to be scoured once a week. The fines imposed by the Pres- 
ident and other officers were to be fairly recorded by him in 
a book, kept for that purpose. He was to attend upon the 
5 



50 COLLEGE WORDS 

ringing of the bell for prayer in the hall, and for lectures and 
commons. Providing candles for the hall was a part of his 
duty. He was obliged to keep the Buttery supplied, at his 
own expense, with beer, cider, tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, 
biscuit, butter, cheese, pens, ink, paper, and such other articles 
as the President or Corporation, ordered or permitted ; " but 
no permission," it is added in the laws, " shall be given for 
selling wine, distilled spirits, or foreign fruits, on credit or for 
ready money." He was allowed to advance twenty per cent, 
on the net cost of the articles sold by him, excepting beer and 
cider, which were stated quarterly by the President and Tu- 
tors. The Butler was allowed a Freshman to assist him, for 
an account of whom see under Freshman, Butler's. — 
Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., App., pp. 138, 139. Loavs Harv. 
Coll., 1798, pp. 60-62. 

President Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse pronounced 
before the Graduates of Yale College, August 14th, 1850, 
remarks as follows concerning the Butler, in connection with 
that institution : — 

" The classes since 1817, when the offiqe of Butler was 
abolished, are probably but little aware of the meaning of 
that singular appendage to the College, which had been in 
existence a hundred years. To older graduates, the lower 
front corner room of the old middle college in the south entry 
must even now suggest many amusing recollections. The 
Butler was a graduate of recent standing, and, being invested 
with rather delicate functions, was required to be one in whom 
confidence might be reposed. Several of the elder graduates 
who have filled this ofiice are here to-day, and can explain, 
better than I can, its duties and its bearings upon the interests 
of College. The chief prerogative of the Butler was to have 
the monopoly of certain eatables, drinkables, and other arti- 
cles desired by students. The Latin laws of 1748 give him 
leave to sell in the buttery, cider, metheglin, strong beer to 
the amount of not more than twelve barrels annually, — 
which amount as the College grew was increased to twenty^ 
— together with loaf-sugar ('saccharum rigidum'), pipes, 



AND CUSTOMS. 51 

tobacco, and such necessaries of scholars as were not fur- 
nished in the commons hall. Some of these necessaries were 
books and stationery, but certain fresh fruits also figured 
largely in the Butler's supply. No student might buy cider 
or beer elsewhere. The Butler, too, had the care of the bell, 
and was bound to wait upon the President or a Tutor, and 
notify him of the time for prayers. He kept the book of 
fines, which, as we shall see, was no small task. He distrib- 
uted the bread and beer provided by the Steward in the Plall 
into equal portions, and had the lost commons, for which privi- 
lege he paid a small annual sum. He was bound, in consid- 
eration of the profits of his monopoly, to provide candles at 
college prayers and for a time to pay also fifty shillings ster- 
ling into the treasury. The more menial part of these duties 
he performed by his waiter." — pp. 43, 44. 

At both Harvard and Yale the students were restricted in 
expending money at the Buttery, being allowed at the former 
" to contract a debt " of five dollars a quarter ; at the latter, 
of one dollar and twenty-five cents per month. 

BUTTEK. A size or small portion of butter. " Send me a 
roll and two Butters." — Grad. ad Cantah. 

Six cheeses, three butters^ and two beers. — The Collegian's 
Guide. 

Pertinent to this singular use of the word, is the following 
curious statement. At Cambridge, Eng., " there is a market 
every day in the week, except Monday, for vegetables, poul- 
try, eggs, and butter. The sale of the last article is attended 
with the peculiarity of every pound designed for the market 
being rolled out to the length of a yard ; each pound being in 
that state about the thickness of a walking-cane. This prac- 
tice, which is confined to Cambridge, is particularly conven- 
ient, as it renders the butter extremely easy of division into 
small portions, called sizes, as used in the Colleges." — Gamb. 
Guide, Ed. 1845, p. 213. 

BUTTERY. An apartment in a house where butter, milk, 
provisions, and utensils are kept. In some colleges, a room 



52 COLLEGE WORDS 

where liquors, fruit, and refreshments are kept for sale to the 
students. — Webster. 

Of the Buttery, Mr. Peirce, in his History of Harvard 
University, speaks as follows : " As the Commons rendered 
the College independent of private boarding-houses, so the 
Buttery removed all just occasion for resorting to the differ- 
ent marts of luxury, intemperance, and ruin. This was a 
kind of supplement to the Commons, and offered for sale to 
the students, at a moderate advance on the cost, wines, liquors, 
groceries, stationery, and, in general, such articles as it was 

■ proper and necessary for them to have occasionally, and which 
for the most part were not included in the Commons' fare. 
The Buttery was also an ofiS.ce, where, among other things, 
records were kept of the times when the scholars were pres- 
ent and absent. At their admission and subsequent returns 
they entered their names in the Buttery, and took them out 
whenever they had leave of absence. The Butler, who was 
a graduate, had various other duties to perform, either by 
himself or by his Freshman, as ringing the bell, seeing that 
the Hall was kept clean, &c., and was allowed a salary, 
which, after 1765, was £60 per annum." — Hist.Harv. Univ., 

'p. 220. 

"With particular reference to the condition of Harvard Col- 
lege a few years prior to the Revolution, Professor Sidney 
Willard observes : " The Buttery was in part a sort of ap- 
pendage to Commons, where the scholars could eke out their 
short commons with sizings of gingerbread and pastry, or 
needlessly or injuriously cram themselves to satiety, as they 
had been accustomed to be crammed at home by their fond 
mothers. Besides eatables, everything necessary for a stu- 
dent was there sold, and articles used in the play-grounds, as 
bats, balls, &c. ; and, in general, a petty trade with small 
profits was carried on in stationery and other matters, — in 
things innocent or suitable for the young customers, and in 
some things, perhaps, which were not. The Butler had a 
small salary, and was allowed the service of a Freshman in 
the Buttery, who was also employed to ring the college beU 



AND CUSTOMS. 53 

for prayers, lectures, and recitations, and take some over- 
sight of the public rooms under the Butler's directions. The 
Buttery was also the office of record of the names of under- 
graduates, and of the rooms assigned to them in the college 
buildings ; of the dates of temporary leave of absence given 
to individuals, and of their return ; and of fines inflicted by 
the immediate government for negligence or minor offences. 
The office was dropped or abolished in the first year of the 
present century, I believe, long after it ceased to be of use 
for most of its primary purposes. The area before the entry 
doors of the Buttery had become a sort of students' exchange 
for idle gossip, if nothing worse. The rooms were now re- 
deemed from traffic, and devoted to places of study, and other 
provision was made for the records which had there been 
kept. The last person who held the office of Butler was 
Joseph Chickering, a graduate of 1799." — Memories of 
Youth and Manhood, 1855, Vol. I. pp. 31, 32. 

President Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse pronounced 
before the Graduates of Yale College, August 14th, 1850, 
makes the following remarks on this subject : " The origi- 
nal motives for setting up a buttery in colleges seem to have 
been, to put the trade in articles which appealed to the appe- 
tite into safe hands ; to ascertain how far students were expen- 
sive in their habits, and prevent them from running into debt ; 
and finally, by providing a place where drinkables of not very 
stimulating qualities were sold, to remove the temptation of 
going abroad after spirituous liquors. Accordingly, laws 
were passed limiting the sum for which the Butler might 
give credit to a student, authorizing the President to inspect 
his books, and forbidding him to sell anything except per- 
mitted articles for ready money. But the whole system, as 
viewed from our position as critics of the past, must be pro- 
nounced a bad one. It rather tempted the student to self- 
indulgence by setting up a place for the sale of things to eat 
and drink within the College walls, than restrained him by 
bringing his habits under inspection. There was nothing to 
prevent his going abroad in quest of stronger drinks than 
5* 



54 COLLEGE WORDS 

could be bought at the buttery, when once those which were 
there sold ceased to allay his thirst. And a monopoly, such 
as the Butler enjoyed of certain articles, did not tend to lower 
their price, or to remove suspicion that they were sold at a 
higher rate than free competition would assign to them." — 
pp. 44, 45. 

" When," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, " the ' pun- 
ishment obscene,' as Cowper, the poet, very properly terms 
it, of flagellation, was enforced at our University, it appears 
that the Buttery was the scene of action. In The Poor 
Scholar, a comedy, written by Kobert Nevile, Fellow of 
King's College in Cambridge, London, 1662, one of the 
students having lost his gown, which is picked up by the 
President of the College, the tutor says, 'If we knew the 
owner, we 'd take him down to th' Butterie, and give him 
due correction.' To which the student, {aside,) ' Under cor- 
rection. Sir ; if you 're for the Butteries with me, I '11 lie as 
close as Diogenes in dolio. I '11 creep in at the .bunghole, 
before I '11 mount a iarrel,' &c. (Act II. Sc. 6.) — Again : 
' Had I been once i' th' Butteries, they 'd have their rods 
about me. But let us, for joy that I 'm escaped, go to the 
Three Tuns and drink a pint of wine, and laugh away our 
cares. — 'T is drinking at the Tuns that keeps us from as- 
cending Buttery barrels,' &c." By a reference to the word 
Punishment, it will be seen that, in the older American 
colleges, corporal punishment was inflicted upon disobedient 
students in a manner much more solemn and imposing, the 
students and officers usually being present. 

The effect of crossing the name in the buttery is thus stated 
in the Collegian's Guide. " To keep a term requires resi- 
dence in the University for a certain number of days within 
a space of time known by the calendar, and the books of the 
buttery afford the appointed proof of residence ; it being pre- 
sumed that, if neither bread, butter, pastry, beer, or even 
toast and water (which is charged one farthing), are entered 
on the buttery books in a given name, the party could not 
have been resident that day. Hence the phrase of ' eating 



AND CUSTOMS. 55 

one's way into the church or to a doctor's degree.' Suppos- 
ing, for example, twenty-one days' residence is required 
between the first of May and the twenty-fourth inclusive, 
then there will be but three days to spare ; consequently, 
should our names be crossed for more than three days in all 
in that term, — say for four days, — the other twenty days 
would not count, and the term would be irrecoverably lost. 
Having our names crossed in the buttery, therefore, is a pun- 
ishment which suspends our collegiate existence while the 
cross remains, besides putting an embargo on our pudding, 
beer, bread and cheese, milk, and butter ; for these articles 
come out of the buttery." — p. 157. 

These remarks apply both to the Universities of Oxford 
and Cambridge ; but in the latter the phrase to he put out of 
commons is used instead of the one given above, yet with 
the same meaning. See Gradus ad Cantahrigiam, p. 32. 

The following extract from the laws of Harvard College, 
passed in 1734, shows that this term was formerly used in 
that institution : " No scholar shall be put in or out of Com- 
mons, but on Tuesdays or Fridays, and no Bachelor or Un- 
dergraduate, but by a note from the President, or one of the 
Tutors (if an Undergraduate, from his own Tutor, if in town) ; 
and when any Bachelors or Undergraduates have been out of 
Commons, the waiters, at their respective tables, shall, on the 
first Tuesday or Friday after they become obhged by the 
preceding law to be in Commons, put them into Commons 
again, by note, after the manner above directed. And if any 
Master neglects to put himself into Commons, when, by the 
preceding law, he is obliged to be in Commons, the waiters 
on the Masters' table shall apply to the President or one of 
the Tutors for a note to put him into Commons, and inform 
him of it." 

Be mine each morn, with eager appetite 
And hunger undissembled, to repair 
To friendly Buttery ; there on smoking Crust 
And foaming Ale to banquet unrestrained, 
Material brealdast ! 

The Student, 1750, Vol. I. p. 107. 



56 COLLEGE WORDS 

BUTTERY-BOOK. In colleges, a book kept at the buttery, 
in which was charged the prices of such articles as were sold 
to the students. There was also kept a list of the fines im- 
posed by the president and professors, and an account of the 
times when the students were present and absent, together 
with a register of the names of all the members of the col- 
lege. 

My name in sure recording page 

Shall time itself o'erpower, 
If no rude mice with envious rage 
The buttery-books devour. 

The Student, Vol. I. p. 348. 

BUTTERY-HATCH. A half-door between the buttery or 
kitchen and the hall, in colleges and old mansions. Also 
called a huttery-bar. — HalliwelVs Arch, and Prov. Words. 

If any scholar or scholars at any time take away or detain any 
vessel of the colleges, great or small, from the hall out of the doors 
from the sight of the buttery-liatcli without the butler's or servitor's 
knowledge, or against their will, he or they shall be punished three 
pence. — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Coll., Vol. I. p. 584. 

He (the college butler) domineers over Freshmen, when they 
first come to the hatch. — Earless Micro-cosmographie, 1628, Char. 1 7. 

There was a small ledging or bar on this hatch to rest the 
tankards on. 
I pray you, bring your hand to the buttery-bar, and let it drink. 

— Tioeifth Night, Act I. Sc. 3. 

BUCK. At Princeton College, anything which is in an inten- 
sive degree good, excellent, pleasant, or agreeable, is called 
buck. 

BYE-FELLOW. In England, a name given in certain cases 
to a fellow in an inferior college. At the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., a bye-fellow can be elected to one of the regu- 
lar fellowships when a vacancy occurs. 

BYE-FELLOWSHIP. An inferior establishment in a col- 
lege for the nominal maintenance of what is called a bye- 
fellow, or a fellow out of the regular course. 

The emoluments of the fellowships vary from a merely nominal 



AND CUSTOMS. 57 

income, in the case of what are called Bye-fellowships, to $ 2,000 
per annum. — Literary World, Yol. XII. p. 285. 

BYE-FOUNDATION. In the English universities, a foun- 
dation from which an insignificant income and an inferior 
maintenance are derived. 

BYE-TERM. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., stu- 
dents who take the degree of B. A. at any other tune save 
January, are said to " go out in a Jnje-termP 

Bristed uses this word, as follows : " I had a double dis- 
qualification exclusive of illness. First, as a Fellow Com- 
moner Secondly, as a hye-term man, or one between 

two years. Although I had entered into residence at the 
same time with those men who were to go out in 1844, my 
name had not been placed on the College Books, like theirs, 
previously to the commencement of 1840. I had therefore 
lost a term, and for most purposes was considered a Fresh- 
man, though I had been in residence as long as any of the 
Junior Sophs. In fact, I was between two yearsP — Five 
Years in an Eng, Univ., Ed. 2d, pp. 97, 98. 



c. 

CAD. A low fellow, nearly equivalent to snoh. Used among 
students in the University of Cambridge, Eng. — Bristed. 

CAHOOLE. At the University of North Carolina, this word 
in its application is almost universal, but generally signifies 
to cajole, to wheedle, to deceive, to procure. 

CALENDAR. At the EngUsh universities the information 
which in American colleges is published in a catalogue, is 
contained in a similar but far more comprehensive work, 
called a calendar. Conversation based on the topics of 
which such a volume treats is in some localities denominated 
calendar. 



58 COLLEGE WORDS 

" Shop," or, as it is sometimes here called, " Calendar" necessarily 
enters to a large extent into the conversation of the Cantabs. — 
Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 82. 

I would lounge about into the rooms of those whom I knew for 
general literary conversation, — even to talk Calendar if there was 
nothing else to do. — Ihid., p. 120. 

CALVIN'S FOLLY. At the University of Vermont, "this 
name," writes a correspondent, " is given to a door, four inch- 
es thick and closely studded with spike-nails, dividing the 
chapel hall from the staircase leading to the belfry. It is 
called Calvin's Folly, because it was planned by a professor 
of that (Christian) name, in order to keep the students out of 
the belfry, which dignified scheme it has utterly failed to ac- 
complish. It is one of the celebrities of the Old Brick Mill,* 
and strangers always see it and hear its history." 

CAIMEL. In Germany, a student on entering the university 
becomes a Kameel, — a camel. 

CAMPUS. At the College of New Jersey, the college yard is 
denominated the Campus. Bach Campus, the privies. 

CANTAB. Abridged for Cantabrigian. 

It was transmitted to me by a respectable Cantab for insertion. — 
Hone's Every-day Booh, Vol. I. p. 697. 

Should all this be a mystery to our uncollegiate friends, or even 
to many matriculated Cantabs, we advise them not to attempt to 
unriddle it. — Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 39. 

CANTABRIGIAN. A student or graduate of the University 
of Cambridge, Eng. Used also at Cambridge, Mass., of the 
students and inhabitants. 

CANTABRIGICALLY. According to Cambridge. 

To speak Cantabriyically. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 28. 

CAP. The cap worn by students at the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., is described by Bristed in the following pas- 
sage: "You must superadd the academical costume. This 

* See Brick Mill. 



AND CUSTOMS. 59 

consists of a gown, varying in color and ornament according 
to the wearer's college and rank, but generally black, not un- 
like an ordinary clerical gown, and a square-topped cap, which 
fits close to the head like a truncated helmet, while the cov- 
ered board which forms the crown^ measures about a foot 
diagonally across." — Five Tears in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, 
p. 4. 

A similar cap is worn at Oxford and at some American 
colleges on particular occasions. 
See Oxford. 
CAP. To uncover the head in reverence or civility. 

The youth, ignorant who they were, had omitted to cajp them. — 
Gent. Mag., Vol. XXIV. p. 567. 

I could not help smiling, when, among the dignitaries whom I 
was bound to make obeisance to by capping whenever I met them, 
Mr. Jackson's catalogue included his all-important self in the num- 
ber. — The Etonian, Vol. II. p. 217. 

The obsequious attention of college servants, and the more un- 
willing '■''capping" of the undergraduates, to such a man are real 
luxuries. — Blackwood's Mag., Eng. ed.. Vol. LVI. p. 572. 

Used in the English universities. 

CAPTAIN OF THE POLL. The first of the Polloi. 

He had moreover been Captain (Head) of the Poll. — Bristed's 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 96. 

CAPUT SENATUS. Latin ; literally, the head of the Sen- 
ate. Li Cambridge, Eng., a council of the University by 
which every grace must be approved, before it can be sub- 
mitted to the senate. The Caput Senatus is formed of the 
vice-chancellor, a doctor in each of the faculties of divinity, 
law, and medicine, and one regent M. A., and one non-regent 
M. A. The vice-chancellor's five assistants are elected an- 
nually by the heads of houses and the doctors of the three 
faculties, out of fifteen persons nominated by the vice-chan- 
cellor and the proctors. — Webster, Cam. Cal. Lit. World, 
Vol. XII. p. 283. 
See Grace. 



60 COLLEGE WORDS 

CARCEE,. Latin. In German schools and universities, a 
prison. — Adler's Germ, and Eng. Diet. 

2Bii- mi\)t^,Vit \M)t^ m^ farcer fpevven. 

Wallenstein's Lager. 
And their Nur'mberg worships swore he should go 
To jail for his pains, — if he liked it, or no. 

Trans, Wallenstein's Camp, in BoJin's Stand. Lib., p. 155. 
CASTLE END. At Cambridge, Eng., a noted resort for 

Cyprians. 
CATHAEINE PURITANS. In the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., the members of St. Catharine's Hall are thus 
designated, from the implied derivation of the word Catharine 
from the Greek Kadapos, pure. 

CAUTION MONEY. In the English universities, a deposit 
in the hands of the tutor at entrance, by way of security. 

With reference to Oxford, De Quincey says of caution 
money : " This is a small sum, properly enough demanded of 
every student, when matriculated, as a pledge for meeting any 
loss from unsettled arrears, such as his sudden death or his 
unannounced departure might else continually be inflicting 
upon his college. In most colleges it amounts to £ 25 ; in 
one only it was considerably less." — Life and Manners, 
p. 249. 

In American colleges, a bond is usually given by a student 
upon entering college, in order to secure the payment of all 
his college dues. 

CENSOR. In the University of Oxford, Eng., a college offi- 
cer whose duties are similar to those of the Dean. 

CEREYIS. From Latin cerevisia, beer. Among German 
students, a small, round, embroidered cap, otherwise called a 
beer-cap. 

Better authorities have lately noted in the solitary stu- 
dent that wends his way — cerevis on head, note-book in hand — 

to the professor's class-room, a vast improvement on the 

Bursche of twenty years ago. — Lond. Quart. Bev., Am. ed., VoL 
LXXIII. p. 59. 



AND CUSTOMS. 61 

CHAMBER. The apartment of a student at a college or uni- 
versity. This word, although formerly used in American 
colleges, has been of late almost entirely supplanted by the 
word room, and it is for this reason that it is here noticed. 

If any of them choose to provide themselves with breakfasts in 
their own chambers, they are allowed so to do, but not to breakfast 
in one another's cliambers. — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. II. 
p. 116. 

Some ringleaders gave up their cliamhers. — Ihid., Vol. II. p. 116. 

CHAMBER-MATE. One who inhabits the same room or 
chamber with another. Formerly used at our colleges. The 
word Chum is now very generally used in its place ; some- 
times room-mate is substituted. 

If any one shall refuse to find his proportion of furniture, wood, 
and candles, the President and Tutors shall charge such delinquent, 
in his quarter bills, his full proportion, which sum shall be paid to 
his chamber-mate. — Laws Harv. Coll., 1798, p. 35. 

CHANCELLOR. The chancellor of a university is an officer 
who seals the diplomas, or letters of degree, &c. The Chan- 
cellor of Oxford is usually one of the prime nobility, elected 
by the students in convocation ; and he holds the office for 
life. He is the chief magistrate in the government of the 
University. The Chancellor of Cambridge is also elected 
from among the prime nobility. The office is biennial, or 
tenable for such a length of time beyond two years as the 
tacit consent of the University may choose to allow. — 
Webster. Cam. Guide. 

" The Chancellor," says the Oxford Guide, " is elected by 
convocation, and his office is for life ; but he never, according 
to usage, is allowed to set foot in this University, excepting 
on the occasion of his installation, or when he is called upon 
to accompany any royal visitors." — Ed. 1847, p. xi. 

At Cambridge, the office of Chancellor is, except on rare 
occasions, purely honorary, and the Chancellor himself sel- 
dom appears at Cambridge. He is elected by the Senate. 

2. At Trinity College, Hartford, the Chancellor is the 
Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut, and is also the Visitor 
6 



62 COLLEGE WORDS 

of the College. He is ex officio the President of the Corpo- 
ration. — Calendar Trin. Coll., 1850, pp. 6, 7. 

CHAPEL. A house for public worship, erected separate from 
a church. In England, chapels in the universities are places 
of worship belonging to particular colleges. The chapels 
connected with the colleges in the United States are used for 
the same purpose. Religious exercises are usually held in 
them twice a day, morning and evening, besides the services 
on the Sabbath. 

CHAPEL. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the attend- 
ance at daily religious services in the chapel of each college 
at morning and evening is thus denominated. 

Some time ago, upon an endeavor to compel the students of one 
college to increase their number of " cliapeh" as the attendance is 
called, there was a violent outcry, and several squibs were written 
by various hands. — Westminster Rev., Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. 
p. 235. 

It is rather surprising that there should be so much shirking of 
diapel^ when the very moderate amount of attendance required is 
considered. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 16. 

To keep chapel, is to be present at the daily religious ser- 
vices of college. 

The Undergraduate is expected to go to chapel eight times, or, in 
academic parlance, to keep eight chapels a week, two on Sunday, 
and one on every week-day, attending morning or evening chapel 
on week-days at his option. Nor is even this indulgent standard 
rigidly enforced. I believe if a Pensioner keeps six chapels, or a 
Fellow- Commoner four, and is quite regular in all other respects, 
he will never be troubled by the Dean. It certainly is an argu- 
ment in favor of severe discipline, that there is more grumbling and 
hanging back, and unwillingness to conform to these extremely 
- moderate requisitions, than is exhibited by the sufferers at a New 
England college, who have to keep sixteen chapels a week, seven 
of them at unreasonable hours. Even the scholars, who arc liter- 
ally paid for going, every chapel being directly worth two shillings 
sterling to them, are by no means invariable In attending the prop- 
er number of times. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, pp. 16, 17. 



AND CUSTOBIS. 63 

CHAPEL CLERK. At Cambridge, Eng., in some colleges, 
it is the duty of this officer to marh the students as they enter 
chapel ; in others, he merely sees that the proper lessons are 
read, by the students appointed by the Dean for that purpose. 
— Gradus ad Cantah. 

The chapel clerk is sent to various parties by the deans, with or- 
ders to attend them after chapel and be reprimanded, but the chapel 
clerk almost always goes to the wrong person. — Westminster Rev., 
Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 235. 

CHAPLAIN. In universities and colleges, the clergyman who 
performs divine service, morning and evening. 

CHAW. A deception or trick. 

To say, " It 's all a gum," or " a regular chaw^'' is the same 
thing.— TAe Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 117. 

CHAW. To use up. 

Yesterday a Junior cracked a joke on me, when all standing 
round shouted in great glee, " Chawed ! Freshman chawed ! Ha 1 
ha! ha!" "No I a'n't chawed" said I, " I 'm as whole as ever." 
But I did n't understand, when a fellow Is used up, he is said to be 
chawed ; if very much used up, he is said to be essentially chawed. 
— The Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 117. 

The verb to chaw up is used with nearly the same meaning 
in some of the Western States. 

Miss Patience said she was gratified to hear Mr. Cash was a mu- 
sician ; she admired people who had a musical taste. Whereupon 
Cash fell Into a chair, as he afterwards observed, chawed up. — 
Thorpe's Backwoods, p. 28. 

CHIP DAY. At WiUiams College a day near the beginning 
of spring is thus designated, and is explained in the following 
passage. " They give us, near the close of the second term, 
what is called ' chip day^ when we put the grounds in order, 
and remove the ruins caused by a winter's siege on the wood- 
piles." — Sketches of Williams College, 1847, p. 79. 

Another writer refers to the day, in a newspaper paragraph. 
" ' Chip day^ at the close of the spring term, is still observed 
in the old-fashioned way. Parties of students go off to the 

■ hills, and return with brush, and branches of evergreen, with 



64 COLLEGE WORDS 

which the chips, which have accumulated during the winter, 
are brushed together, and afterwards burnt." — Boston Daily 
Evening Traveller, July 12, 1854. 

About college there had been, in early spring, the customary 
cleaning up of "c/if/? day." — Williams Quarterly, Vol. 11. p. 186. 

CHOPPING AT THE TREE. At University College in 
the University of Oxford, " a curious and ancient custom, 
called ' chopping at the tree," still prevails. On Easter Sun- 
day, every member, as he leaves the hall after dinner, chops 
with a cleaver at a small tree dressed up for the occasion 
with evergreens and flowers, and placed on a turf close to the 
buttery. The cook stands by for his accustomed largess." — 
Oxford Guide, Ed. 1847, p. 144, note. 

CHORE. In the German universities, a club or society of the' 
students is thus designated. 

Duels between members of different cJiores were once frequent ; 
— sometimes one man was obliged to fight the members of a whole 
chore in succession. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XV. p. 5. 

CHRISTIAN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., a mem- 
ber of Christ's College. 

CHUM. Armenian, chomm, or chommein, or ham, to dwell, 
stay, or lodge ; French, chomer, to rest ; Saxon, ham, home. 
A chamber-feUow ; one who lodges or resides in the same 
room. — Webster. 

This word is used at the universities and colleges, both in 
England and the United States. 

A young student laid a wager with his chum, that the Dean was 
at that instant smoking his pipe. — Philip's Life and Poems, p. 13. 

But his chum 
Had wielded, in his just defence, 
A bowl of vast circumference. — Rehelliad, p. 1 7. 

Every set of chambers was possessed by two co-occupants ; they 
had generally the same bedroom, and a common study ; and they 
were called chums. — De Quincey's Life and Manners, p. 251. 

I am again your petitioner in behalf of that great chum of litera- 
ture, Samuel Johnson. — Smollett, in Boswell. 



AND CUSTOMS. €5 

In this last instance, the word chum is used either with the 
more extended meaning of companion, friend, or, as the 
sovereign prince of Tartary is called the Cham or Khan, so 
Johnson is called the chum (cham) or prince of literature. 

CHUM. To occupy a chamber Avith another. 

CHUMMING. Occupying a room with another. 

Such is one of the evils of chumming. — Harvardiana, Vol. I. 
p. 324. 

CHUMSHIP. The state of occupying a room in company 
with another ; chumming. 

In the seventeenth century, in Milton's time, for example, (about 
1624,) and for more than sixty years after that era, the practice of 
chu7nshi2) prevailed. — De Quincey's Life and Manners, p. 251. 

CIVILIAN. A student of the civil law at the university. — 
Graves. Welster. 

CLARIAN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., a member 
of Clare Hall. 

CLASS. A number of students in a college or school, of the 
. same standing, or pursuing the same studies. In colleges, 
the students entering or becoming members the same year, 
and pursuing the same studies. — Webster. 

In the University of Oxford, class is the division of the 
candidates who are examined for their degrees according to 
their rate of merit. Those who are entitled to this distinc- 
tion are denominated Classmen, answering to the optimes and 
wranglers in the University of Cambridge. — CrahVs Tech, 
Diet. 

See an interesting account of '" reading for a first class," in 
the Collegian's Guide, Chap. XII. 

CLASS. To place in ranks or divisions students that are pur- 
suing the same studies ; to form into a class or classes. — 
Webster, 

CLASS BOOK. Within the last thirty or forty years, a cus- 
tom has arisen at Harvard College of no small importance in 
an historical point of view, but which is principally deserv- 
6* 



66 COLLEGE WOKDS 

ing of notice from the many pleasing associations to which its 
observance cannot fail to give rise. Every graduating class 
procures a beautiful and substantial folio of many hundred 
pages, called the Glass Booh, and lettered with the year of the 
graduation of the class. In this a certain number of pages is 
allotted to each individual of the class, in which he inscribes 
a brief autobiography, paying particular attention to names 
and dates. The book is then deposited in the hands of the 
Glass Secretary, whose duty it is to keep a faithful record of 
the marriage, birth of children, and death of each of his 
classmates, together with their various places of residence, 
and the offices and honors to which each may have attained. 
This information is communicated to him by letter by his 
classmates, and he is in consequence prepared to answer any 
inquiries relative to any member of the class. At his death, 
the book passes into the hands of one of the Glass Gommit- 
tee, and at their death, into those of some surviving member 
of the class ; and when the class has at length become extinct, 
it is deposited on the shelves of the College Library. 

The Class Book also contains a full list of all persons who 
have at any time been members of the class, together with 
such information as can be gathered in reference to them ; 
and an account of the prizes, deturs, parts at Exhibitions and 
Commencement, degrees, etc., of all its members. Into it are 
also copied the Class Oration, Poem, and Ode, and the Secre- 
tary's report of the class meeting, at which the officers were 
elected. It is also intended to contain the records of all 
future class meetings, and the accounts of the Class Secre- 
tary, who is ex officio Class Treasurer and Chairman of the 
Class Committee. By virtue of his office of Class Treasurer, 
he procures the Gradle for the successful candidate, and keeps 
in his possession the Class Fund, which is sometimes raised 
to defray the accruing expenses of the Class in future times. 

In the Harvardiana, Vol. IV., is an extract from the Class 
Book of 1838, which is very curious and unique. To this is 
appended the following note : — "It may be necessary to in- 
form many of our readers, that the Glass Book is a large 



AND CUSTOMS. 67 

volume, in which autobiographical sketches of the members 
of each graduating class are recorded, and which is left in 
the hands of the Class Secretary." 
CLASS CANE. At Union College, as a mark of distinction, 
a class cane was for a time carried by the members of the 
Junior Class. 

The Juniors, although on the whole a clever set of fellows, lean 
perhaps with too nonchalant an air on their class canes. — Sopho- 
more Independent, Union College, Nov. 1854. 

They will refer to their class cane, that mark of decrepitude and 
imbecility, for old men use canes. — Ihid. 
CLASS CAP. At Hamilton College, it is customary for the 
Sophomores to appear in a class cap on the Junior Exhibition 
day, which is worn generally during part of the third term. 

In American colleges, students frequently endeavor to adopt 
distinctive dresses, but the attempt is usually followed by fail- 
ure. One of these attempts is pleasantly alluded to in the 
Williams Monthly Miscellany. " Li a late number, the am- 
bition for whiskers was made the subject of a remark. The 
ambition of college has since taken a somewhat different turn. 
We allude to the class caps, which have been introduced in 
one or two of the classes. The Freshmen were the first to 
appear in this species of uniform, a few days since at evening 
prayers ; the cap which they have adopted is quite tasteful. 
The Sophomores, not to be outdone, have voted to adopt the 
tarpaulin, having, no doubt, become proficients in navigation, 
as lucidly explained in one of their text-books. The Juniors 
we understand, will follow suit soon. We hardly know what 
is left for the Seniors, unless it be to go bare-headed." — 
1845, p. 464. 

CLASS COMMITTEE. At Harvard College a committee 
of two persons, joined with the Glass Secretary, who is ex 
officio its chairman, whose duty it is, after the class has grad- 
uated, during their lives to call class meetings, whenever they 
deem it advisable, and to attend to all other business relatingj 
to the class. 

See under Class Book. 



68 COLLEGE WORDS 

CLASS CRADLE. For some years it has been customary 
at Harvard College for the Senior Class, at the meeting for 
the election of the officers of Class Day, &c., to appropriate a 
certain sum of money, usually not exceeding fifty dollars, for 
the purchase of a cradle, to be given to the first member of 
the class to whom a child is born in lawful wedlock at a suit- 
able time after marriage. This sum is intrusted to the hands 
of the Glass Secretary, who is expected to transmit the pres- 
ent to the successful candidate upon the receipt of the requi- 
site information. In one instance a Bahy-jumper was voted 
by the class, to be given to the second member who should be 
blessed as above stated. 

CLASS CUP. It is a theory at Yale College, that each class 
appropriates at graduating a certain amount of money for the 
purchase of a silver cup, to be given, in the name of the class, 
to the first member to whom a child shall be born in lawful 
wedlock at a suitable time after marriage. Although the 
presentation of the class cup is often alluded to, yet it is be- 
lieved that the gift has in no instance been bestowed. It is 
to be regretted that a custom so agreeable in theory could not 
be reduced to practice. 

Each man's mind was made up 
To obtain the " Class CwpP 

Preseniaiion Day Songs, June 14, 1854. 
See Silver Cup. 

CLASS DAY. The custom at Harvard College of observing 
with appropriate exercises the day on which the Senior Class 
finish their studies, is of a very early date. The first notice 
which appears in reference to this subject is contained in an 
account of the disorders which began to prevail among the 
students about the year 1760. Among the evils to be reme- 
died are mentioned the " disorders upon the day of the Sen- 
ior Sophisters meeting to choose the officers of the class," 
when " it was usual for each scholar to bring a bottle of wine 
with him, which practice the committee (that reported upon 
it) apprehend has a natural tendency to produce disorders." 
But the disturbances were not wholly confined to the meeting 



AND CUSTOMS. 69 

when the officers of Class Day were chosen ; they occurred 
also on Class Day, and it was for this reason that frequent 
attempts were made at this period, by the College govern- 
ment, to suppress its observance. How far their efforts suc- 
ceeded is not known, but it is safe to conclude that greater 
interruptions were occasioned by the war of the Revolution, 
than by the attempts to abolish what it would have been wiser 
to have reformed. 

In a MS. Journal, under date of June 21st, 1791, is the 
following entry : " Neither the valedictory oration by Ward, 
nor poem by Walton, was delivered, on account of a division 
in the class, and also because several were gone home." How 
long previous to this the 21st of June had been the day cho- 
sen for the exercises of the class, is uncertain ; but for many 
years after, unless for special reasons, this period was regu- 
larly selected for that purpose. Another extract from the 
MS. above mentioned, under date of June 21st, 1792, reads : 
"A valedictory poem was delivered by Pauie 1st, and a vale- 
dictory Latin oration by Abiel Abbott." 

The biographer of Mr. Robert Treat Paine, referring to 
the poem noticed in the above memorandum, says : " The 
21st of every June, till of late years, has been the day on 
which the members of the Senior Class closed their collegiate 
studies, and retired to make preparations for the ensuing 
Commencement. On this day it was usual for one member 
to deliver an oration, and another a poem ; such members 
being appointed by their classmates. The Valedictory Poem 
of Mr. Paine, a tender, correct, and beautiful effiision of feel- 
ing and taste, was received by the audience with applause 
and tears." In another place he speaks on the same subject, 
as follows : " The solemnity which produced this poem is ex- 
tremely interesting ; and, being of ancient date, it is to be 
hoped that it may never fall into disuse. His affisction for 
the University Mr. Paine cherished as one of his most sacred 
principles. Of this poem, Mr. Paine always spoke as one of 
his happiest efforts. Coming from so young a man, it is cer- 
tainly very creditable, and promises more, I fear, than the un- 



70 COLLEGE WORDS 

toward circumstances of his after life Avould permit him to 
perform." — Paine's Works, Ed. 1812, pp. xxvii., 439. 

It was always customary, near the close of the last century, 
for those who bore the honors of Class Day, to treat their 
friends according to the style of the time, and there was 
scarcely a graduate who did not provide an entertainment of 
such sort as he could afford. An account of the exercises of 
the day at this period may not be uninteresting. It is from 
the Diary which is above referred to. 

"20th (Thursday). This day for special reasons the vale- 
dictory poem and oration were performed. The order of the 
day was this. At ten, the class walked in procession to the 
President's, and escorted him, the Professors, and Tutors, to 
the Chapel, preceded by the band playing solemn music. 

" The President began with a short prayer. He then read 
a chapter in the Bible ; after this he prayed again ; Cutler 
then delivered his poem. Then the singing club, accompa- 
nied by the band, performed Williams's Friendship. This 
was succeeded by a valedictory Latin Oration by Jack- 
son. "We then formed, and waited on the government to the 
President's, where we were very respectably treated with 
wine, &c. 

" We then marched in procession to Jackson's room, where 
we drank punch. At one we went to Mr. Moore's tavern 
and partook of an elegant entertainment, which cost 6/4 a 
piece. Marching then to Cutler's room, we shook hands, and 
parted with expressing the sincerest tokens of friendship." 
June, 1793. 

The incidents of Class Day, five years subsequent to the 
last date, are detailed by Professor Sidney Willard, and may 
not be omitted in this connection. 

" On the 21st of June, 1798, the day of the dismission of 
the Senior Class from all academic exercises, the class met in 
the College chapel to attend the accustomed ceremonies of the 
occasion, and afterwards to enjoy the usual festivities of the 
day, since called, for the sake of a name, and for brevity's 
sake, Class Day. There had been a want of perfect harmony 



AND CUSTOMS. 71 

in the previous proceedings, which in some degree marred 
the social enjoyments of the day ; but with the day all dissen- 
sion closed, awaiting the dawn of another day, the harbinger 
of the brighter recollections of four years spent in pleasant 
and peaceful intercourse. There lingered no lasting aliena- 
tions of feeling. "Whatever were the occasions of the discon- 
tent, it soon expired, was buried in the darkest recesses of 
discarded memories, and there lay lost and forgotten. 

" After the exercises of the chapel, and visiting the Presi- 
dent, Professors, and Tutors at the President's house, accord- 
ing to the custom still existing, we marched in procession 
round the College halls, to another hall in Porter's tavern, 
(which some dozen or fifteen of the oldest living graduates 
may perhaps remember as Bradish's tavern, of ancient celeb- 
rity,) where we dined. After dining, we assembled at the 
Liberty Tree, (according to another custom still existing,) 
and in due time, having taken leave of each other, we depart- 
ed, some of us to our family homes, and others to their rooms 
to make preparations for their departure." — Memories of 
Youth and Manhood, Vol. II. pp. 1, 3. 

Referring to the same event, he observes in another place : 
" In speaking of the leave-taking of the College by my class, 
on the 21st of June, 1798, — Class Day, as it is now called, — 
I inadvertently forgot to mention, that according to custom, at 
that period, [Samuel P. P.] Fay delivered a Latin Valedic- 
tory Oration in the Chapel, in the presence of the Immediate 
Government, and of the students of other classes who chose 
to be present. Speaking to him on the subject some time 
since, he told me that he believed [Judge Joseph] Story de- 
livered a Poem on the same occasion There was no 

poetical performance in the celebration of the day in the class 
before ours, on the same occasion ; Dr. John C. Warren's 
Latin oration being the only performance, and his class 
counting as many reputed poets as ours did." — Ibid., Yol. 
IL p. 320. 

Alterations were continually made in the observances of 
Class Day, and in twenty years after the period last men- 



72 COLLEGE WOEDS 

tioned, its character had in many particulars changed. In- 
stead of the Latin, an English oration of a somewhat sportive 
nature had been introduced ; the Poem was either serious or 
comic, at the Master's option ; usually, however, the former. 
After the exercises in the Chapel, the class commonly re- 
paired to Porter's Hall, and there partook of a dinner, not 
always observing with perfect strictness the rules of temper- 
ance either in eating or drinking. This " cenobitical sympo- 
sium" concluded, they again returned to the college yard, 
where, scattered in groups under the trees, the rest of the day 
was spent in singing, smoking, and drinking, or pretending to 
drink, punch ; for the negroes who supplied it in pails usually 
contrived to take two or more glasses to every one glass that 
was drank by those for whom it was provided. The dance 
around the Liberty Tree, 

" Each hand in comrade's hand," 

closed the regular ceremonies of the day ; but generally the 
greater part of the succeeding night was spent in feasting 
and hilarity. 

The punch-drinking in the yard increased to such an ex- 
tent, that it was considered by the government of the college 
as a matter which demanded their interference ; and in the 
year 1842, on one of these occasions, an instructor having 
joined with the students in their revellings in the yard, the 
Faculty proposed that, instead of spending the afternoon in 
this manner, dancing should be introduced, which was accord- 
ingly done, with the approbation of both parties. 

The observances of the day, which in a small way may be 
considered as a rival of Commencement, are at present as fol- 
lows. The Orator, Poet, Odist, Chaplain, and Marshals hav- 
ing been previously chosen, on the morning of Class Day the 
Seniors assemble in the yard, and, preceded by the band, 
walk in procession to one of the halls of the College, where 
a prayer is offered by the Class Chaplain. They then pro- 
ceed to the President's house, and escort him to the Chapel, 
where the following order is observed. A prayer by one of 



AND CUSTOMS. 73 

the College officers is succeeded by the Oration, in which the 
transactions of the class from their entrance into College to 
the present time are reviewed with witty and appropriate re- 
marks. The Poem is then pronounced, followed by the Ode, 
which is sung by the whole class to the tune of "Fair 
Harvard." Music is performed at intervals by the band. 
The class then withdraw to Harvard Hall, accompanied by 
their friends and invited guests, where a rich collation is 
provided. 

After an interval of from one to two hours, the dancing 
commences in the yard. Cotillons and the easier dances are 
here performed, but the sport closes in the hall with the Polka 
and other fashionable steps. The Seniors again form, and 
make the circuit of the yard, cheering the buildings, great 
and small. They then assemble under the Liberty Tree, 
around which with hands joined they run and dance, after 
singing the student's adopted song, " Auld Lang Syne." At 
parting, each member takes a sprig or a flower from the beau- 
tiful " Wreath " which surrounds the " farewell tree," which 
is sacredly treasured as a last memento of college scenes and 
enjoyments. Thus close the exercises of the day, after 
which the class separate until Commencement. 

The more marked events in the observance of Class Day 
have been graphically described by Grace Greenwood, in the 
accompanying paragraphs. 

" The exercises on this occasion were to me most novel and 
interesting. The graduating class of 1848 are a fine-looking 
set of young men certainly, and seem to promise that their 
country shall yet be greater and better for the manly ener- 
gies, the talent and learning, with which they are just enter- 
ing upon life. 

"The spectators were assembled in the College Chapel, 
whither the class escorted the Faculty, headed by President 
Everett, in his Oxford hat and gown. 

" The President is a man of most imperial presence ; his 
figure has great dignity, and his head is grand in form 
and expression. But to me he looks the governor, the 
7 



74 COLLEGE WORDS 

foreign minister and the President, more than the orator or 
the poet. 

" After a prayer from the Chaplain, we listened to an elo- 
quent oration from the class orator, Mr. Tiffany, of Baltimore, 
and to a very elegant and witty poem from the class poet, 
Mr. Clarke, of Boston. The ' Fair Harvard ' having been 
sung by the class, all adjourned to the College green, where 
such as were so disposed danced to the music of a fine band. 
From the green we repaired to Harvard Hall, where an ex- 
cellent collation was served, succeeded by dancing. From 
the hall the students of 1848 marched and cheered succes- 
sively every College building, then formed a circle round a 
magnificent elm, whose trunk was beautifully garlanded with 
flowers, and, with hands joined in a peculiar manner, sung 
'Auld Lang Syne.' The scene was in the highest degree 
touching and impressive, so much of the beauty and glory of 
life was there, so much of the energy, enthusiasm, and proud 
unbroken strength of manhood. With throbbing hearts and 
glowing lips, linked for a few moments with strong, fraternal 
grasps, they stood, with one deep, common feeling, thrilling 
like one pulse through all. An involuntary prayer sprang to 
my lips, that they might ever prove true to Alma Mater, to 
one another, to their country, and to Heaven. 

" As the singing ceased, the students began running swiftly 
around the tree, and at the cry, ' Harvard ! ' a second circle 
was formed by the other students, which gave a tumultuous 
excitement to the scene. It broke up at last with a perfect 
storm of cheers, and a hasty division among the class of the 
garland which encircled the elm, each taking a flower in re- 
membrance of the day." — Ch^eenwood Leaves, Ed. 3d, 1851, 
pp. 350, 351. 

In the poem which was read before the class of 1851, by 
William C. Bradley, the comparisons of those about to grad- 
uate with the youth who is attaining to his majority, and 
with the traveller who has stopped a little for rest and refresh- 
ment, are so genial and suggestive, that their insertion in this 
connection will not be deemed out of place. 



AND CUSTOMS. 75 

" 'T is a good custom, long maintained, 
When the young heir has manhood gained. 
To solemnize the welcome date, 
Accession to the man's estate. 
With open house and rousing game, 
And friends to wish him joy and fame : 
So Harvard, following thus the ways 
Of careful sires of older days, 
Directs her children till they grow 
The strength of ripened years to know. 
And bids their friends and kindred, then. 
To come and hail her striplings — men. 

" And as, about the table set, 
Or on the shady grass-plat met, 
They give the youngster leave to speak 
Of vacant sport, and boyish freak, 
So now would we (such tales have power 
At noon-tide to abridge the hour) 
Turn to the past, and mourn or praise 
The joys and pains of boyhood's days. 

" Like travellers with their hearts intent 
Upon a distant journey bent. 
We rest upon the earliest stage 
Of life's laborious pilgrimage ; 
But like the band of pilgrims gay 
(Whom Chaucer sings) at close of day, 
That turned with mirth, and cheerful din, 
To pass their evening at the inn. 
Hot from the ride and dusty, we, 
But yet untired and stout and free. 
And like the travellers by the door, 
Sit down and talk the journey o'er." 

As a specimen of the character of the Ode which is always 
sung on Class Day to the tune " Fair Harvard," — which is 
the name by which the melody " Believe me, if all those en- 
dearing young charms " has been adopted at Cambridge, — 
that which was written hj Joshua Danforth Robinson for the 
class of 1851 is here inserted. 



76 COLLEGE WORDS 

" The days of thy tenderly nurture are done, 

We call for the lance and the shield ; 
There 's a battle to fight and a crown to be won, 

And onward we press to the field ! 
But yet, Alma Mater, before we depart, 

Shall the song of our farewell be sung, 
And the grasp of the hand shall express for the heart 

Emotions too deep for the tongue. 

" This group of thy sons. Alma Mater, no more 
- May gladden thine ear with their song, 
For soon we shall stand upon Time's crowded shore, 

And mix in humanity's throng. 
O, glad be the voices that ring through thy halls 

When the echo of ours shall have flown. 
And the footsteps that sound when no longer thy walls 

Shall answer the tread of our own ! 

" Alas ! our dear Mother, we see on thy face 

A shadow of sorrow to-day ; 
For while we are clasped in thy farewell embrace, 

And pass from thy bosom away. 
To part with the living, we know, must recall 

The lost whom thy love still embalms, 
That one sigh must escape and one tear-drop must fall 

For the children that died in thy arms. 

" But the flowers of affection, bedewed by the tears 

In the twilight of Memory distilled, 
And sunned by the love of our earlier years, 

When the soul with their beauty was thrilled. 
Untouched by the frost of life's winter, shall blow, 

And breathe the same odor they gave 
When the vision of youth was entranced by their glow, 

Till, fadeless, they bloom o'er the grave." 

A most genial account of the exercises of the Class Day 
of the graduates of the year 1854 may be found in Harper's 
Magazine, Vol. IX. pp. 554, 555. 

CLASSIC. One learned in classical literature; a student of 
the ancient Greek and Roman authors of the first rank. 



AND CUSTOMS. 77 

These men, averaging about twenty-three years of age, the best 
Classics and Mathematicians of their years, were reading for Fel- 
lowships. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 35. 

A quiet Scotchman irreproachable as a classic and a whist-player. 
— Ibid., p. 57. 

The mathematical examination was very difficult, and made 
great havoc among the classics. — Ibid., p. 62. 

CLASSIC SHADES. A poetical appellation given to col- 
leges and universities. 
He prepares for his departure, — but he must, ere he repair 

To the " classic shades," et cetera, — visit his " ladye fayre." 

Poem before ladma, Harv. Coll., 1850. 

I exchanged the farm-house of my father for the ^'-classic shades" 
of Union. — The Parthenon, Union Coll., 1851, p. 18. 

CLASSIS. Same meaning as Class. The Latin for the Eng- 
Hsh. 

[They shall] observe the generall hours appointed for all the stu- 
dents, and the speciall houres for their own classis. — New Eng- 
land's First Fruits, in Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. L p. 243. 

CLASS LIST. In the University of Oxford, a list in which 
are entered the names of those who are examined for their 
degrees, according to their rate of merit. 

At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the names of those 
who are examined at stated periods are placed alphabetically 
in the class lists, but the first eight or ten individual places 
are generally known. 

There are some men who read for honors in that covetous and 
contracted spirit, and so bent upon securing the name of scholar- 
ship, even at the sacrifice of the reality, that, for the pleasure of 
reading their names at the top of the class list, they would make 
the examiners a present of all their Latin and Greek the moment 
they left the schools. — Collegian's Guide, p. 327. 

CLASSMAN. See Class. 

CLASS MAKSHAL. In many colleges in the United States, 
a class marshal is chosen by the Senior Class from their own 
number, for the purpose of regulating the procession on the 

7* 



78 COLLEGE WORDS 

day of Commencement, and, as at Harvard College, on Class 
Day also. 

"At Union College," writes a correspondent, "the class 
marshal is elected by the Senior Class during the third term. 
He attends to the order of the procession on Commencement 
Day, and walks into the church by the side of the President. 
He chooses several assistants, who attend to the accommoda- 
tion of the audience. He is chosen from among the best- 
looking and most popular men of the class, and the honor of 
his office is considered next to that of the Vice-President of 
the Senate for the third term." 
CLASSMATE. A member of the same class with another. 
The day is wound up with a scene of careless laughter and mer- 
riment, among a dozen of joke-loving classmates. — Harv. Reg., 
p. 202. 

CLASS MEETING. A meeting where all the class are as- 
sembled for the purpose of carrying out some measure, 
appointing class officers, or transacting business of" interest 
to the whole class. 

Li Harvard College, no class, or general, or other meeting 
of students can be called without an application in writing of 
three students, and no more, expressing the purpose of such 
meeting, nor otherwise than by a printed notice, signed by 
the President, expressing the time, the object, and place of 
such meeting, and the three students applying for such meet- 
ing are held responsible for any proceedings at it contrary to 
the laws of the College. — Laws Univ. Cam., Mass., 1848, 
Appendix. 

Similar regulations are in force at all other American col- 
leges. At Union College the statute on this subject was 
formerly in these words : " No class meetings shall be held 
without special license from the President ; and for such pur- 
poses only as shall be expressed in the license ; nor shall any 
class meeting be continued by adjournment or otherwise, 
without permission ; and all class meetings held without 
license shall be considered as unlawful combinations, and pun- 
ished accordingly." — Laws Union Coll., 1807, pp. 37, 38. 



AND CUSTOMS. 79 

While one, on fame alone intent, 
Seek to be chosen President 
Of clubs, or a class meeting. 

Haw. Reg., p. 247. 

CLASSOLOGY. That science which treats of the members 
of the classes of a college. This word is used in the title of 
a pleasant jeu d^esprit by Mr. William Biglow, on the class 
which graduated at Harvard College in 1792. It is called, 
" Glassology : an Anacreontic Ode, in Imitation of ' Heathen 
Mythology.' " 

See under High Go. 

CLASS SECRETARY. For an account of this officer, see 
under Class Book. 

CLASS SUPPER. In American colleges, a supper attended 
only by the members of a collegiate class. Class suppers are 
given in some colleges at the close ^f each year ; in others, 
only at the close of the Sophomore and Senior years, or at 
one of these periods. 

CLASS TREES. At Bowdoin CoUege, " immediately after 
the annual examination of each class," says a correspondent, 
" the members that compose it are accustomed to form a ring 
round a tree, and then, not dance, but run around it. So 
quickly do they revolve, that every individual runner has a 
tendency ' to go off in a tangent,' which it is difficult to resist 
for any length of time. The three lower classes have a tree 
by themselves in front of Massachusetts Hall. The Seniors 
have one of their own in front of King Chapel." 

For an account of a similar and much older custom, prev- 
alent at Harvard College, see under Class Day and Lib- 
erty Tree. 

CLIMBING. In reference to this word, a correspondent from 
Dartmouth College writes : " At the commencement of this 
century, the Greek, Latin, and Philosophical Orations were 
assigned by the Faculty to the best scholars, while the Vale- 
dictorian was chosen from the remainder by his classmates. 
It was customary for each one of these four to treat his class- 



80 COLLEGE WORDS 

mates, which was called ^GlimUng,' from the effect which 
the liquor would have in elevating the class to an equality 
with the first scholars." 

CLIOSOPHIC. A word compounded from Clio, the Muse 
who presided over history, and o-ocfios, intelligent. At Yale 
College, this word was formerly used to designate an oration 
on the arts and sciences, which was delivered annually at the 
examination in July. 

Having finished his academic course, by the appointment of the 
President he delivered the cliosophic oration in the College Hall. — 
Holmes's Life of Ezra Stiles, p. 13. 
COACH. In the English universities, this term is variously 
apphed, as will be seen by a reference to the annexed exam- 
ples. It is generally used to designate a private tutor. 

Everything is (or used to be) called a " coacJi " at Oxford : a 
lecture- class, or a club of men meeting to take wine, luncheon, or 
breakfast alternately, were severally called a " wine, luncheon, or 
breakfast coacJi " ; so a private tutor was called a " private coach " ,• 
and one, like Hilton of Worcester, very famed for getting his men 
safe through, was termed " a Patent Safety." — The Collegian's 
Guide, p. 103. 

It is to his private tutors, or " coaches " that he looks for instruc- 
tion. — Household Words, Vol. H. p. 160. 

He apphes to Mr. Crammer. Mr. Crammer is a celebrated 
" coach " for lazy and stupid men, and has a system of his own 
which has met with decided success. — Ibid., Vol. H. p. 162. 

COACH. To prepare a student to pass an examination; to 
make use of the aid of a private tutor. 

He is putting on all steam, and " coaching " violently for the 
Classical Tripos. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, 
p. 10. 

It is not every man who can get a Travis to coach him. — Ihid., 
p. 69. 
COACHING. A cant term, in the British universities, for pre- 
paring a student, by the assistance of a private tutor, to pass 
an examination. 

Whether a man shall throw away every opportunity which a uni^ 



AND CUSTOMS. 81 

versity is so eminently calculated to afford, and come away with a 
mere testamur gained rather by the trickery of private coaching 
(tutoring) than by mental improvement, depends, &c. — The Col- 
legian's Guide, p. 15. 

COAX. This vv^ord was formerly used at Yale College in the 
same sense as the word Jish at Harvard, viz. to seek or gain 
the favor of a teacher by flattery. One of the Proverbs of 
Solomon was often changed by the students to read as fol- 
lows : " Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, 
and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood ; so the 
coaxing of tutors bringeth forth parts." — Prov. xxx. 33. 
COCHLEAUREATUS, pi Cochleaureati. Latin, coch- 
lear, a spoon, and laureatus, laurelled. A free translation 
would be, one honored with a spoon. 

At Yale College, the wooden spoon is given to the one 
whose name comes last on the list of appointees for the Jun- 
ior Exhibition. The recipient of this honor is designated 
cochleaureatus. 

Now give in honor of the spoon 

Three cheers, long, loud, and hearty, 
And three for every honored June 
In coch-le-au-re-a-ti. 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 37. 
See Wooden Spoon. 

COFFIN. At the University of Vermont, a boot, especially a 

large one. A companion to the word Hummel, q. v. 
COLLAR. At Yale College, " to come up with ; to seize ; to 

lay hold on ; to appropriate." — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XIV. 

p. 144 
By that means the oration marks will be efiectually collared, with 

scarce an effort. — Yale Banger, Oct. 1848. 

COLLECTION. In the University of Oxford, a college ex- 
amination, which takes place at the end of every term before 
the Warden and Tutor. 

Read some Herodotus for Collections. — The Etonian, Vol. TL. 
p. 348. 

The College examinations, called collections, are strictly private. 
— Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 139. 



02 COLLEGE WORDS 

COLLECTOR. A Bachelor of Arts in the University of Ox- 
ford, who is appointed to superintend some scholastic pro- 
ceedings in Lent. — Todd. 

The Collectors, who are two in number. Bachelors of Arts, 
are appointed to collect the names of determining bachelors, 
during Lent. Their office begins and ends with that season. 
— Guide to Oxford. 

COLLECTORSHIP. The office of a collector in the Univer- 
sity of Oxford. — Todd.. 

This Lent the collectors ceased from entertaining the Bachelors 
by advice and command of the proctors ; so that now they got by 
their collector ships, whereas before they spent about lOOZ., besides 
their gains, on clothes or needless entertainments. — Life of A. 
Wood, p. 286. 

COLLEGE. Latin, collegium; con and lego^ to gather. In 
its primary sense, a collection or assembly ; hence, in a gen- 
eral sense, a collection, assemblage, or society of men, invest- 
ed with certain powers and rights, performing certain duties, 
or engaged in some common employment or pursuit. 

1. An establishment or edifice appropriated to the use of 
students who are acquiring the languages and sciences. 

2. The society of persons engaged in the pursuits of liter- 
ature, including the officers and students. Societies of this 
kind are incorporated, and endowed with revenues. 

" A college, in the modern sense of that word, was an in- 
stitution which arose within a university, probably within that 
of Paris or of Oxford first, being intended either as a kind of 
boarding-school, or for the support of scholars destitute of 
means, who v»^ere here to live under particular supervision. 
By degrees it became more and more the custom that teach- 
ers should be attached to these establishments. And as they 
grew in favor, they were resorted to by persons of means, 
who paid for their board ; and this to such a degree, that at 
one time the colleges included nearly all the members of the 
University of Paris. Li the English universities the colleges 
may have been first established by a master who gathered 
pupils around him, for whose board and instruction he pro- 



AND CUSTOMS. 83 

vided. He exercised them perhaps in logic and the other 
liberal arts, and repeated the university lectures, as well as 
superintended their morals. As his scholars grew in number, 
he associated with himself other teachers, who thus acquired 
the name o? fellows. Thus it naturally happened that the 
government of colleges, even of those which were founded by 
the benevolence of pious persons, was in the hands of a prin- 
cipal called by various names, such as rector, president, pro- 
vost, or master, and of fellows, all of whom were resident 
within the walls of the same edifices where the students lived. 
"Where charitable munificence went so far as to provide for 
the support of a greater number of fellows than were need- 
ed, some of them were intrusted, as tutors, with the instruc- 
tion of the undergraduates, while others performed various 
services within their college, or passed a life of learned leis- 
ure." — Pres. Woolsey's Hist. Disc, New Haven, Aug. 14, 
1850, p. 8. 

3. In foreign universities, a public lecture. — Webster. 

COLLEGE BIBLE. The laws of a college are sometimes 
significantly called the College Bible. 

He eons the College Bible with eager, longing eyes, 
And wonders how poor students at six o'clock can rise. 

Poem before ladma of Harv. Coll., 1850. 

COLLEGER. A member of a college. 

We stood like veteran Collegers the next day's screw. — Harvar- 
diana, Vol. III. p. 9. [Litde used.] 

2. The name by which a member of a certain class of the 
pupils of Eton is known. " The Collegers are educated gra- 
tuitously, and such of them as have nearly but not quite 
reached the age of nineteen, when a vacancy in King's Col- 
lege, Cambridge, occurs, are elected scholars there forthwith 
and provided for during life — or until marriage." — Bris- 
ted's Five Tears iii an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, pp. 262, 263. 

They have nothing in lieu of our seventy Collegers. — Ibid., 
p. 270. 

The whole number of scholars or " Collegers " at Eton is seven- 
ty.— iiVemrz/ World, Vol. XII. p. 285. 



84 COLLEGE WORDS 

COLLEGE YARD. The enclosure on or within which the 
buildings of a college are situated. Although college enclos- 
ures are usually open for others to pass through than those 
connected with the college, yet by law the grounds are as 
private as those connected with private dwelHngs, and are 
kept so, by refusing entrance, for a certain period, to all who 
are not members of the college, at least once in twenty years, 
although the time differs in different States. 
But when they got to College yard, 
With one accord they all huzza'd. — ReheUiad, p. 33. 
Not ye, whom science never taught to roam 
Far as a College yard or student's home. 

Harv. Reg., p. 232. 

COLLEGIAN. A member of a college, particularly of a 
literary institution so called ; an inhabitant of a college. — 
Johnson. 

COLLEGIATE. Pertaining to a college ; as, collegiate stud- 
ies. 

2. Containing a college ; instituted after the manner of a 
college ; as, a collegiate society. — Johnson. 

COLLEGIATE. A member of a college. 

COMBINATION. An agreement, for effecting some object, 
by joint operation ; in an ill sense, when the purpose is ille- 
gal or iniquitous. An agreement entered into by students to 
resist or disobey the Faculty of the College, or to do any un- 
lawful act, is a comhination. When the number concerned 
is so great as to render it inexpedient to punish all, those 
most culpable are usually selected, or as many as are deemed 
necessary to satisfy the demands of justice. — Laws Yale 
Coll, 1837, p. 27. Laws Univ. Gam., Mass., 1848, p. 23. 

COMBINATION ROOM. In the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., a room into which the fellows, and others in authority, 
withdraw after dinner, for wine, dessert, and conversation. — 
Webster. 

In popular phrase, the word room is omitted. 
" There will be some quiet Bachelors there, I suppose," thought 



AND CUSTOMS. 85 

I, " and a Junior Fellow or two, some of those I have met in com- 
bination." — Bristed^s Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 52. 

COMITAT. In the German universities, a procession formed 
to accompany a departing fellow-student with public honor 
out of the city. — Howitt. 
COMMEMORATION DAY. At the University of Oxford, 
Eng., this day is an annual solemnity in honor of the bene- 
factors of the University, when orations are delivered, and 
prize compositions are read in the theatre. It is the great 
day of festivity for the year. — Huher. 

At the University of Cambridge, Eng., there is always a 
sermon on this day. The lesson which is read in the course 
of the service is from Ecclus. xliv. : "Let us now praise 
famous men," &c. It is " a day," says the Gradus ad Can- 
tabrigiam, "devoted to prayers, and good living." It was 
formerly called Anniversary Day. 
COMMENCE. To take a degree, or the first degree, in a 
university or college. — Bailey. 

Nine Bachelors commenced at Cambridge ; they were young men 
of good hope, and performed their acts so as to give good proof of 
their proficiency in the tongues and arts. — WintJirop's Journal, by 
Mr. Savage, Yol. II. p. 87. 

Four Senior Sophisters came from Saybrook, and received the 
Degree of Bachelor of Arts, and several others commenced Masters. 
— Clap's Hist. Yale Coll., p. 20. 

A scholar see him now commence. 
Without the aid of books or sense. 

TrumbuWs Progress of Dullness, 1794, p. 12. 

Charles Chauncy was afterwards, when qualified, sent to 

the University of Cambridge, where he commenced Bachelor of 
Divinity. — Hist. Sketch of First Ch. in Boston, 1812, p. 211. 

COMMENCEMENT. The time when students in colleges 
commence Bachelors ; a day in which degrees are publicly 
conferred in the English and American universities. — 
Webster. 

At Harvard College, in its earliest days. Commencements 
were attended, as at present, by the highest officers in the 



3 COLLEGE WORDS 

State. At the first Commencement, on the second Tuesday 
of August, 1642, we are told that "the Governour, Magis- 
trates, and the Ministers, from all parts, with all sorts of 
schollars, and others in great numbers, were present." — New 
England's First Fruits^ in Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. I. p. 246. 

In the MS. Diary of Judge Sewall, under date of July 1, 
1685, Commencement Day, is this remark: " Gov'r there, 
whom I accompanied to Charlestown " ; and again, under 
date of July 2, 1690, is the following entry respecting the 
Commencement of that year : " Go to Cambridge by water 
in y^ Barge wherein the Gov'r, Maj. Gen'l, Capt. Blackwell, 
and others." In the Private Journal of Cotton Mather, 
under the dates of 1708 and 1717, there are notices of the 
Boston troops waiting on the Governor to Cambridge on 
Commencement Day. During the presidency of Wadsworth, 
which continued from 1725 to 1737, "it was the custom," 
says Quincy, " on Commencement Day, for the Governor of 
the Province to come from Boston through Roxbury, often 
by the way of Watertown, attended by his body guards, and 
to arrive at the College about ten or eleven o'clock in the 
morning. A procession was then formed of the Corporation, 
Overseers, magistrates, ministers, and invited gentlemen, and 
immediately moved from Harvard Hall to the Congregational 
church." After the exercises of the day were over, the stu- 
dents escorted the Governor, Corporation, and Overseers, in 
procession, to the President's house. This description would 
answer very well for the present day, by adding the gradu- 
ating class to the procession, and substituting the Boston Lan- 
cers as an escort, instead of the " body guards." 

The exercises of the first Commencement are stated in New 
England's First Fruits, above referred to, as follows: — 
" Latine and Greeke Orations, and Declamations, and He- 
brew Analysis, Grammatical!, Logicall, and Rhetoricall 
of the Psalms : And their answers and disputations in 
Logicall, Ethicall, Physical!, and Metaphysical! questions." 
At Commencement in 1685, the exercises were, besides Dis- 
putes, four Orations, one Latin, two Greek, and one Hebrew. 



AND CUSTOMS. ,87 

In the presidency of Wadswortb, above referred to, " the 
exercises of the day," says Quincy, "began with a short 
prayer by the President ; a salutatory oration in Latin, by 
one of the graduating class, succeeded ; then disputations on 
theses or questions in Logic, Ethics, and Natural Philosophy 
commenced. When the disputation terminated, one of the 
candidates pronounced a Latin ' gratulatory oration.' The 
graduating class were then called, and, after asking leave of 
the Governor and Overseers, the President conferred the 
Bachelor's degree, by delivering a book to the candidates 
(who came forward successively in parties of four), and 
pronouncing a form of words in Latin. An adjournment 
then took place to dinner, in Harvard Hall ; thence the pro- 
cession returned to the church, and, after the Masters' dispu- 
tations, usually three in number, were finished, their degrees 
were conferred, with the same general forms as those of the 
Bachelors. An occasional address was then made by the 
President. A Latin valedictory oration by one of the Mas- 
ters succeeded, and the exercises concluded with a prayer by 
the President." 

Similar to this is the account given by the Hon. Paine 
Wingate, a graduate of the class of 1759, of the exercises of 
Commencement as conducted while he was in College. " I 
do not recollect now," he says, " any part of the public exer- 
cises on Commencement Day to be in English, excepting 
the President's prayers at opening and closing the services. 
Next after the prayer followed the Salutatory Oration in 
Latin, by one of the candidates for the first degree. This 
office was assigned by the President, and was supposed to 
be given to him who was the best orator in the class. Then 
followed a Syllogistic Disputation in Latin, in which four or 
five or more of those who were distinguished as good scholars 
in the class were appointed by the President as Respondents, 
to whom were assigned certain questions, which the Respond- 
ents maintained, and the rest of the class severally opposed, 
and endeavored to invalidate. This was conducted wholly 
in Latin, and in the form of Syllogisms and Theses. At the 



88 • COLLEGE WORDS 

close of the Disputation, the President usually added some 
remarks in Latin. After these exercises the President con- 
ferred the degrees. This, I think, may be considered as the 
summary of the public performances on a Commencement 
Day. I do not recollect any Forensic Disputation, or a 
Poem or Oration spoken in English, whilst I was in Col- 
lege." — Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., pp. 307, 308. 

As far back as the year 1685, it was customary for the 
President to deliver an address near the close of the exer- 
cises. Under this date, in the MS. Diary of Judge Sewall, 
are these words : " Mr. President after giving y^ Degrees 
made an Oration in Praise of Academical Studies and De- 
grees, Hebrew tongue." In 1688, at the Commencement, 
according to the same gentleman, Mr. William Hubbard, then 
acting as President under the appointment of Sir Edmund 
Andros, " made an oration." 

The disputations were always in Latin, and continued to be 
a part of the exercises of Commencement until the year 1820. 
The orations were in Latin, Grreek, Hebrew, and sometimes 
French ; in 1818 a Spanish oration was delivered at the 
Commencement for that year by Mr. George Osborne. The 
first English oration was made by Mr. Jedidiah Huntington, 
in the year 1763, and the first English poem by Mr. John 
Davis, in 1781. The last Latin syllogisms were in 1792, on 
the subjects, " Materia cogitare non potest," and " Nil nisi 
ignis natura est fluidum." The first year in which the per- 
formers spoke without a prompter was 1837. There were 
no Master's exercises for the first time in 1844. To prevent 
improprieties, in the year 1760, "the duty of inspecting the 
performances on the day," says Quincy, " and expunging all 
exceptionable parts, was assigned to the President; on whom 
it was particularly enjoined ' to put an end to the practice of 
addressing the female sex.' " At a later period, in 1792, by 
referring to the " Order of the Exercises of Commencement," 
we find that in the concluding oration " honorable notice is 
taken, from year to year, of those who have been the princi- 
pal Benefactors of the University." The practice is now 
discontinued. 



AND CUSTOMS. 89 

At tiie first Commencement, all. the magistrates, elders, and 
invited guests who were present " dined," says Winthrop in 
his Journal, Vol. II. pp. 87, 88, " at the College with the 
scholars' ordinary commons, which was done on purpose for 
the students' encouragement, &c., and it gave good content 
to all." After dinner, a Psalm was usually sung. In 1685, 
at Commencement, Sewall says : " After dinner y^ 3d part 
of y^ 103d Ps. was sung in y^ Hall." The seventy-eighth 
Psalm was the one usually sung, an account of which will be 
found under that title. The Senior Class usually waited on 
the table on Commencement Day. After dinner, they were 
allowed to take what provisions were left, and eat them at 
their rooms, or in the hall. This custom was not discontin- 
ued until the year 1812. 

In 1754, owing to the expensive habits worn on Com- 
mencement Day, a law w^as passed, ordering that on that day 
" every candidate for his degree appear in black, or dark blue, 
or gray clothes ; and that no one wear any silk night-gowns ; 
and that any candidate, who shall appear dressed contrary to 
such regulations, may not expect his degree." At present, on 
Commencement Day, every candidate for a first degree wears, 
according to the law, "a black dress and the usual black 
gown." 

It was formerly customary, on this day, for the students to 
provide entertainment in their rooms. But great care was 
taken, as far as statutory enactments were concerned, that all 
excess should be avoided. During the presidency of Increase 
Mather was developed among the students a singular phase 
of gastronomy, which was noticed by the Corporation in their 
records, under the date of June 22, 1693, in these words: 
" The Corporation, having been informed that the custom 
taken up in the College, not used in any other Universities, 
for the commencers [graduating class] to have plumb-cake, is 
dishonorable to the College, not grateful to wise men, and 
chargeable to the parents of the commencers, do therefore 
put an end to that custom, and do hereby order that no com- 
mencer, or other scholar, shall have any such cakes in their 
8* 



90 COLLEGE WORDS 

studies or chambers ; and that, if any scholar shall offend 
therein, the cakes shall be taken from him, and he shall 
moreover pay to the College twenty shillings for each such 
offence." This stringent regulation was, no doubt, all-suffi- 
cient for many years ; but in the lapse of time the taste for 
the forbidden delicacy, which was probably concocted with a 
skill unknown to the moderns, was again revived, accompa- 
nied with confessions to a fondness for several kinds of ex- 
pensive preparations, the recipes for which preparations, it is 
to be feared, are inevitably lost. In 1722, in the latter part 
of President Leverett's administration, an act was passed 
" for reforming the Extravagancys of Commencements," and 
providing "that henceforth no preparation nor provision of 
either Plumb Cake, or Roasted, Boyled, or Baked Meates or 
Pyes of any kind shal be made by any Commencer," and that 
no " such have any distilled Lyquours in his Chamber or any 
composition therewith," under penalty of being "punished 
twenty shillings, to be paid to the use of the College," and of 
forfeiture of the provisions and liquors, " to he seized hy the 
tutors" The President and Corporation were accustomed to 
visit the rooms of the Commencers, " to see if the laws pro- 
hibiting certam meats and drinks were not violated." These 
restrictions not being sufficient, a vote passed the Corporation 
in 1727, declaring, that " if any, who now doe, or hereafter 
shall, stand for their degrees, presume to doe any thing con- 
trary to the act of 11th June, 1722, or go about to evade it hy 
plain cahe, they shall not be admitted to their degree, and if 
any, after they have received their degree, shall presume to 
make any forbidden provisions, their names shall be left or 
rased out of the Catalogue of the Graduates." 

In 1749, the Corporation strongly recommended to the 
parents and guardians of such as were to take degrees that 
year, " considering the awfal judgments of God upon the 
land," to "retrench Commencement expenses, so as may 
best correspond with the frowns of Divine Providence, and 
that they take effectual care to have their sons' chambers 
cleared of company, and their entertainments finished, on the 



AND CUSTOMS. 91 

evening of said Commencement Day, or, at furthest, by next 
morning." In 1755, attempts were made to prevent those 
" who proceeded Bachelors of Arts from having entertain- 
ments of any kind, either in the College or any house in 
Cambridge, after the Commencement Day." This and sev- 
eral other propositions of the Overseers failing to meet with 
the approbation of the Corporation, a vote finally passed both 
boards in 1757, by which it was ordered, that, on account of 
the " distressing drought upon the land," and " in considera- 
tion of the dark state of Providence with respect to the war 
we are engaged in, which Providences call for humiliation 
and fasting rather than festival entertainments," the "first 
and second degrees be given to the several candidates with- 
out their personal attendance " ; a general diploma was ac- 
cordingly given, and Commencement was omitted for that 
year. Three years after, " all unnecessary expenses were 
forbidden," and also "dancing in any part of Commence- 
ment week, in the Hall, or in any College building ; nor was 
any undergraduate allowed to give any entertainment, after 
dinner, on Thursday of that week, under severe penalties." 
But the laws were not always so strict, for we find that, on 
account of a proposition made by the Overseers to the Cor- 
poration in 1759, recommending a "repeal of the law pro- 
hibiting the drinking of punch,^^ the latter board voted, that 
" it shall be no offence if any scholar shall, at Commence- 
ment, make and entertain guests at his chamber with punch" 
which they afterwards declare, " as it is now usually made, 
is no intoxicating liquor." 

To prevent the disturbances incident to the day, an attempt 
was made in 1727 to have the " Commencements for time to 
to come more private than has been usual," and for several 
years after, the time of Commencement was concealed ; " only 
a short notice," says Quincy, "being given to the public of 
the day on which it was to be held." Friday was the day 
agreed on, for the reason, says President Wadsworth in his 
Diary, "that there might be a less remaining time of the 
week spent in froUcking." This was very ill received by the 



92 COLLEGE WOKDS 

people of Boston and the vicinity, to whom Commencement 
was a season of hilarity and festivity ; the ministers were also 
dissatisfied, not knowing the day in some cases, and in others 
being subjected to great inconvenience on account of their 
living at a distance from Cambridge. The practice was ac- 
cordingly abandoned in 1736, and Commencement, as former- 
ly, was held on Wednesday, to general satisfaction. In 1749, 
" three gentlemen," says Quincy, " who had sons about to be 
graduated, offered to give the College a thousand pounds old 
tenor, provided * a trial was made of Commencements this 
year, in a more private manner.'" The proposition, after 
much debate, was rejected, and " public Commencements 
were continued without interruption, except during the period 
of the Revolutionary war, and occasionally, from temporary 
causes, during the remainder of the century, notwithstanding 
their evils, anomalies, and inconsistencies." * 

The following poetical account of Commencement- at Har- 
vard College is supposed to have been written by Dr. Mather 
Byles, in the year 1742 or thereabouts. Of its merits, this is 
no place to speak. As a picture of the times it is valuable, 
and for this reason, and to show the high rank which Com 
mencement Day formerly held among other days, it is here 
presented. 

" COMMENCEMENT. 
" I sing the day, bright with peculiar charms, 
Whose rising radiance ev'ry bosom warms ; 
The day when Cambridge empties all the towns, 
And youths commencing, take their laurel crowns : 
When smiHng joys, and gay delights appear, 
And shine distinguish'd, in the rolling year. 

* At Harvard College, sixty-eight Commencements were held in the 
old parish church which " occupied a portion of the space between Dane 
Hall and the old Presidential House." The period embraced was from 
1758 to 1834. There was no Commencement in 1764, on account of the 
small-pox; nor from 1775 to 1781, seven years, on account of the Revo- 
lutionary Avar. The first Commencement in the new meeting-house 
was held in 1834. In 1835, there was rain at Commencement, for the 
first time in thirty -five years. 



AND CUSTOMS. 93 

" While the glad theme I labour to rehearse, 
In flowing numbers, and melodious verse. 
Descend, immortal nine, my soul inspire, 
Amid my bosom lavish all your fire, 
While smiling Phoehus, owns the heavenly layes 
And shades the poet with surrounding bayes. 
But chief ye blooming nymphs of heavenly frame, 
Who make the day with double glory flame, 
In whose fair persons, art and nature vie. 
On the young muse cast an auspicious eye : 
Secure of fame, then shall the goddess sing, 
And rise triumphant with a tow'ring wing. 
Her tuneful notes wide-spreading all around, 
The hills shall echo, and the vales resound. 

" Soon as the morn in crimson robes array 'd 
With chearful beams dispels the flying shade. 
While fragrant odours waft the air along. 
And birds melodious chant their heavenly song, 
And all the waste of heav'n with glory spread, 
Wakes up the world, in sleep's embraces dead. 
Theii those whose dreams were on th' approaching day, 
Prepare in splendid garbs to make their way 
To that admired solemnity, whose date, 
Tho' late begun, will last as long as fate. 
And now the sprightly Fair approach the glass 
To heighten every feature of the face. 
They view the roses flush their glowing cheeks, 
The snov/y Hllies towering round their necks. 
Their rustling manteaus huddled on in haste. 
They clasp with shining girdles round their waist. 
Nor less the speed and care of every beau. 
To shine in dress and swell the solemn show. 
Thus clad, in careless order mixed by chance. 
In haste they both along the streets advance : 
'Till near the brink of Charles's beauteous stream, 
They stop, and think the lingering boat to blame. 
Soon as the empty skiff salutes the shore. 
In with impetuous haste they clustering pour. 
The men the head, the stern the ladies grace. 
And neighing horses fill the middle space. 
Sunk deep, the boat floats slow the waves along, 



94 COLLEGE WORDS 

And scarce contains the tHckly crowded throng ; 
A gen'ral horror seizes on the fair, 
While white-look'd cowards only not despair. 
'Till rowed with care they reach th' opposing side, 
Leap on the shore, and leave the threat'ning tide. 
While to receive the pay the boatman stands, 
And chinking pennys jingle in his hands. 
Eager the sparks assault the waiting cars, 
Fops meet vdth fops, and clash in civil wars. 
Off fly the wigs, as mount their kicking heels, 
The rudely bouncing head with anguish swells, 
A crimson torrent gushes from the nose, 
Adown the cheeks, and wanders o'er the cloaths. 
Taunting, the victor's strait the chariots leap, 
While the poor batter'd beau's for madness weep. 

" Now in calashes shine the blooming maids, 
Bright'ning the day which blazes o'er their heads ; 
The seats with nimble steps they swift ascend, 
And moving on the crowd, their waste of beauties spend. 
So bearing thro' the boundless breadth of heav'n, 
The twinkling lamps of light are graceful driv'n ; 
Wliile on the world they shed their glorious rays, 
And set the face of nature in a blaze. 

" Now smoak the burning wheels along the ground, 
While rapid hoofs of flying steeds resound. 
The drivers' by no vulgar flame inspir'd, 
But with the sparks of love and glory fir'd, 
With furious swiftness sweep along the way. 
And from the foremost chariot snatch the day. 
So at Olympick games when heros strove, 
In rapid cars to gain the goal of love. 
If on her fav'rite youth the goddess shone 
He left his rival and the winds out-run. 

" And now thy town, Cambridge ! strikes the sight 
Of the beholders with confus'd delight ; 
Thy green campaigns wide open to the view. 
And buildings where bright youth their fame pursue. 
Blest village ! on whose plains united glows, 
A vast, confus'd magnificence of shows. 



AND CUSTOMS. 95 

Where num'rous crowds of different colours blend, 
Thick as the trees which from the hills ascend : 
Or as the grass which shoots in verdant spires, 
Or stars which dart thro' natures realms their fires. 

" How am I fir'd with a profuse delight, 
When round the yard I roll my ravish'd sight ! 
From the high casements how the ladies show ! 
And scatter glory on the crowds below. 
From sash to sash the lovely lightening plays 
And blends their beauties in a radiant blaze. 
So when the noon of night the earth invades 
And o'er the landskip spreads her silent shades. 
In heavens high vault the twinkling stars appear, 
And with gay glory's light the gleemy sphere. 
From their bright orbs a flame of splendors shows, 
And all around th' enlighten'd ether glows. 

" Soon as huge heaps have delug'd all the plains, 
Of tawny damsels, mixt with simple swains, 
Gay city beau's, grave matrons and coquats. 
Bully's and cully's, clergymen and wits. 
The thing which first the num'rous crowd employs. 
Is by a breakfast to begin their joys. 
While wine, which blushes in a crystal glass. 
Streams down in floods, and paints their glowing face. 
And now the time approaches when the bell, 
With dull continuance tolls a solemn knell. 
Numbers of blooming youth in black array 
Adorn the yard, and gladden all ihe day. 
In two strait lines they instantly divide. 
While each beholds his partner on th' opposing side, 
Then slow, majestick, walks the learned head, 
The senate follow with a solemn tread. 
Next Levi's tribe in reverend order move, 
Whilst the uniting youth the show improve. 
They glow in long procession till they come, 
Near to the portals of the sacred dome ; 
Then on a sudden open fly the doors. 
The leader enters, then the croud thick pours. 
The temple in a moment feels its freight, 
And cracks beneath its vast unwieldy weight, 



96 COLLEGE WORDS 

So when the threatning Ocean roars around 

A place encompass'd with a lofty mound, 

If some weak part admits the raging waves, 

It flows resistless, and the city laves ; 

Till underneath the waters ly the tow'rs, 

Which menac'd with their height the heav'nly pow'rs. 

" The work begun with pray'r, with modest pace, 
A youth advancing mounts the desk with grace, 
To all the audience sweeps a circling bow. 
Then from his lips ten thousand graces flow. 
The next that comes, a learned thesis reads. 
The question states, and then a war succeeds. 
Loud major, minor, and the consequence. 
Amuse the crowd, wide-gaping at their fence. 
Who speaks the loudest is with them the best, 
And impudence for learning is confest. 

" The battle o'er, the sable youth descend. 
And to the awful chief, their footsteps bend. 
With a small book, the laurel wreath he gives 
Join'd with a pow'r to use it all their lives. 
Obsequious, they return what they receive, 
With decent rev'rence, they his presence leave. 
Dismiss'd, they strait repeat their back ward way 
And with white napkins grace the sumptuous day.* 

" Now plates unnumber'd on the tables shine, 
And dishes fiU'd invite the guests to dine. 
The grace perform'd, each as it suits him best. 
Divides the sav'ry honours of the feast, 
The glasses with bright sparkling wines abound 
And flowing bowls repeat the jolly round. 
Thanks said, the multitude unite their voice, 
In sweetly mingled and melodious noise. 
The warbliiig musick floats along the air. 
And softly winds the mazes of the ear ; 
Eavish'd the crowd promiscuously retires. 
And each pursues the pleasure he admires. 

* The graduating class usually waited on the table at dinner on Com- 
mencement Day. 



AND CUSTOMS. 97 

" Behold my muse far distant on the plains, 
Amidst a wrestling ring two jolly swains ; 
Eager for fame, tliey tug and haul for blood. 
One nam'd Jack Luhy., t' other Robin Clod, 
Panting they strain, and labouring hard they sweat, 
Mix legs, kick shins, tear cloaths, and ply their feet. 
Now nimbly trip, now stiffly stand their ground, 
And now they twirl, around, around, around ; 
Till overcome by greater art or strength. 
Jack Luby lays along his lubber length. 
A fall ! a fall ! the loud spectators cry, 
A fall ! a fall ! the echoing hills reply. 

" O'er yonder field in wild confusion runs, 
A clam'rous troop of Affric's sable sons. 
Behind the victors shout, with barbarous roar, 
The vanquish'd fly with hideous yells before. 
The gloomy squadron thro' the valley speeds 
Whilst clatt'ring cudgels rattle o'er their heads. 

" Again to church the learned tribe repair. 
Where syllogisms battle in the air. 
And then the elder youth their second laurels wear. 
Hail ! Happy laurets ! who our hopes inspire. 
And set our ardent wishes all on fire. 
By you the pulpit and the bar will shine 
In future annals ; while the ravish'd nine 
Will in your bosom breathe cselestial flames, 
And stamp Eternity upon your names. 
Accept my infant muse, whose feeble wings 
Can scarce sustain her flight, while you she sings. 
With candour view my rude unfinish'd praise 
And see my Ivy twist around your hayes. 
So Phidias by immortal Jove inspir'd. 
His statue carv'd, by all mankind admir'd. 
Nor thus content, by his approving nod. 
He cut himself upon the shining god. 
That shaded by the umbrage of his name, 
Eternal honours might attend his fame." 

In his almanacs, Nathaniel Ames was wont to insert, oppo- 
site the days of Commencement week, remarks which he 
9 



98 COLLEGE WORDS 

deemed appropriate to that period. His notes for the year 
1764 were these : — 

" Much talk and nothing said." 

" The loquacious more talkative than ever, and fine Ha- 
rangues preparing." 

" Much Money sunk, 
Much Liquor drunk." 

His only note for the year 1765 was this : — 

" Many Crapulae to Day 
Give the Head-ach to the Gay." 

Commencement Day was generally considered a holiday 
throughout the Province, and in the metropolis the shops 
were usually closed, and little or no business was done. 
About ten days before this period, a body of Indians from 
Natick — men, women, and pappooses — commonly made 
their appearance at Cambridge, and took up their station 
around the Episcopal Church, in the cellar of which they 
were accustomed to sleep, if the weather was unpleasant. 
The women sold baskets and moccasons ; the boys gained 
money by shooting at it, while the men wandered about and 
spent the little that was earned by their squaws in rum and 
tobacco. Then there would come along a body of itinerant 
negro fiddlers, whose scraping never intermitted during the 
time of their abode. 

The Common, on Commencement week, was covered with 
booths, erected in lines, like streets, intended to accommodate 
the populace from Boston and the vicinity with the amuse- 
ments of a fair. In these were carried on all sorts of dissi- 
pation. Here was a knot of gamblers, gathered around a 
wheel of fortune, or watching the whirl of the ball on a 
roulette-table. Further along, the jolly hucksters displayed 
their tempting wares in the shape of cooling beverages and 
palate-tickling confections. There was dancing on this side, 
auction-selling on the other ; here a pantomimic show, there 
a blind man, led by a dog, soliciting alms ; organ-grinders 
and hurdy-gurdy grinders, bears and monkeys, jugglers and 
sword-swallowers, all mingled in inextricable confusion. 



AND CUSTOMS. 99 

In a neighboring field, a countryman had, perchance, let 
loose a fox, which the dogs were worrying to death, while the 
surrounding crowd testified their pleasure at the scene by 
shouts of approbation. Nor was there any want of the spir- 
ituous ; pails of punch, guarded by stout negroes, bore wit- 
ness to their own subtle contents, now by the man who lay 
curled up under the adjoining hedge, " forgetting and forgot," 
and again by the drunkard, reeling, cursing, and fighting 
among his comrades. 

The following observations from the pen of Professor Sid- 
ney Willard, afford an accurate description of the outward 
manifestations of Commencement Day at Harvard College, 
during the latter part of the last century. " Commencement 
Day at that time was a widely noted day, not only among 
men and women of all characters and conditions, but also 
among boys. It was the great literary and mob anniversary 
of Massachusetts, surpassed only in its celebrities by the great 
civil and mob anniversary, namely, the Fourth of July, and 
the last Wednesday of May, Election day, so called, the an- 
niversary of the organization of the government of the State 
for the civil year. But Commencement, perhaps most of all, 
exliibited an incongruous mixture of men and things. Be- 
sides the academic exercises within the sanctuary of learning 
and religion, followed by the festivities in the College dining- 
hall, and under temporary tents and awnings erected for the 
entertainments given to the numerous guests of wealthy par- 
ents of young men who had come out successful competitors 
for prizes in the academic race, the large common was decked 
with tents filled with various refreshments for the hungry and 
thirsty multitudes, and the intermediate spaces crowded with 
men, women, and boys, white and black, many of them gam- 
bling, drinking, swearing, dancing, and fighting from morning 
to midnight. Here and there the scene was varied by some 
show of curiosities, or of monkeys or less common wild ani- 
mals, and the gambols of mountebanks, who by their ridicu- 
lous tricks drew a greater crowd than the abandoned group 
at the gaming-tables, or than the fooleries, distortions, and 



100 COLLEGE WORDS 

mad pranks of the inebriates. If my revered uncle* took a 
glimpse at these scenes, he did not see there any of our red 
brethren, as Mr. JeiFerson kindly called them, who formed a 
considerable part of the gathering at the time of his gradu- 
ation, forty-two years before -, but he must have seen exhibi- 
tions of depravity which would disgust the most untutored 
savage. Near the close of the last century these outrages 
began to disappear, and lessened from year to year, until by 
public opinion, enforced by an efficient police, they were many 
years ago wholly suppressed, and the vicinity of the College 
halls has become, as it should be, a classic ground." — Ifemo- 
ries of Youth and Manhood^ Vol. I. pp. 251, 252. 

It is to such scenes as these that Mr. William Biglow re- 
fers, in his poem recited before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, 
in their dining-hall, August 29 th, 1811. 

" All hail, Commencement ! when all classes free 
Throng learning's fount, from interest, taste, or glee ; . 
When sutlers plain in tents, like Jacob, dweU, 
Their goods distribute, and their purses swell ; 
When tipplers cease on wretchedness to think, 
Those born to sell, as well as these to drink; 
When every day each merry Andrew clears 
More cash than useful men in many years ; 
When men to business come, or come to rake, 
And modest women spurn at Pope's mistake, f 

" All hail. Commencement ! when all colors join, 
To gamble, riot, quarrel, and purloin ; 
When Afric's sooty sons, a race forlorn, 
Play, swear, and fight, like Christians freely born ; 
And Indians bless our civiHzing merit, 
And get dead drunk with truly Cliristian spirit ; 
When heroes, skilled in pocket-picking sleights, 
Of equal property and equal rights. 



* Eev. John Willard, S. T. D., of Stafford, Conn,, a graduate of the 
class of 1751. 

t " Men, some to pleasure, some to business, take ; 
But every woman is at heart a rake." 



AND CUSTOMS. 101 

Of rights of man and woman, boldest friends, 
Believing means are sanctioned by their ends, 
Sequester part of Gripus' boundless store, 
While Gripus thanks god Plutus he has more ; 
And needy poet, from this ill secure. 
Feeling his fob, cries, ' Blessed are the poor.' " 

On the same subject, the writer of Our Chronicle of '26, a 
satirical poem, versifies in the following manner : — 

" Then comes Commencement Day, and Discord dire 
Strikes her confusion-string, and dust and noise 
Climb up the skies ; ladies in thin attire, 
For 't is in AugTist, and both men and boys, 
Are all abroad, in sunshine and in glee 
Making all heaven rattle with their revelry ! 

" Ah i what a classic sight it is to see 

The black gowns flaunting in the sultry air. 

Boys big with literary sympathy. 

And all the glories of this great affair ! 

More classic sounds ! — within, the plaudit shout. 
While Punchinello's rabble echoes it without." 

To this the author appends a note, as follows : — 
" The holiday extends to thousands of those who have no 
particular classical pretensions, further than can be recognized 
in a certain penchant for such jubilees, contracted by attend- 
ing them for years as hangers-on. On this devoted day these 
noisy do-nothings collect with mummers, monkeys, bears, and 
rope-dancers, and hold their revels just beneath the windows 
of the tabernacle where the literary triumph is enacting. 

' Turn saeva sonare 
Verbera, turn stridor ferri tractceque catenae. '" 

A writer in Buckingham's New England Magazine, Vol. III., 
1832, in an article entitled " Harvard College Forty Years 
ago," thus describes the customs which then prevailed : — 

" As I entered Cambridge, what were my ' first impres- 
sions ' ? The College buildings ' heaving in sight and looming 
up,* as the sailors say. Pyramids of Egypt ! can ye surpass 
these enormous piles ? The Common covered with tents and 
9* 



102 COLLEGE WORDS 

wigwams, and people of all sorts, colors, conditions, nations, 
and tongues. A country muster or ordination dwindles into 
nothing in comparison. It was a second edition of Babel. The 
Governor's life-guard, in splendid uniform, prancing to and fro, 

' Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.' 
Horny-hoofed, galloping quadrupeds make all the common to 
tremble. 

" I soon steered for the meeting-house, and obtained a seat, 
or rather standing, in the gallery, determined to be an eye- 
witness of all the sport of the day. Presently music was 
heard approaching, such as I had never heard before. It 
must be ' the music of the spheres.' Anon, three enormous 
white wigs, supported by three stately, venerable men, yclad 
in black, flowing robes, were located in the pulpit. A plat- 
form of wigs was formed in the body pews, on which one 
might apparently walk as securely as on the stage. The 
candidates for degrees seemed to have made a mistake in 
dressing themselves in hlack togas instead of white ones, pro 
more JRomanorum. The musicians jammed into their pew in 
the gallery, very near to me, with enormous fiddles and fifes 
and ramshorns. Terrihile visu / They sounded. I stopped 
my ears, and with open mouth and staring eyes stood aghast 
with wonderment. The music ceased. The performances 
commenced. English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French ! 
These scholars knew everything." 

More particular is the account of the observances, at this 
period, of the day, at Harvard College, as given by Professor 
Sidney Willard : — 

" Commencement Day, in the year 1798, was a day bereft, 
in some respects, of its wonted cheerfulness. Instead of the 
serene summer's dawn, and the clear rising of the sun, 

' The dawn was overcast, the morning lowered, 
And heavily in clouds brought on the day.' 

In the evening, from the time that the public exercises closed 
until twilight, the rain descended in torrents. The President * 

* Rev. Joseph Willard, S. T. D. 



AND CUSTOMS. 103 

lay prostrate on his bed from the effects of a violent disease, 
from which it was feared he could not recover * His house, 
which on all occasions was the abode of hospitality, and on 
Commencement Day especially so, (being the great College 
anniversary,) was now a house of stillness, anxiety, and watch- 
ing. For seventeen successive years it had been thronged on 
this anniversary from morn till night, by welcome visitors, 
cheerfully greeted and cared for, and now it was like a house 
of mourning for the dead. 

" After the literary exercises of the day were closed, the 
officers in the diiFerent branches of the College government 
and instruction. Masters of Arts, and invited guests, repaired 
to the College dining-hall without the ceremony of a proces- 
sion formed according to dignity or priority of right. This 
the elements forbade. Each one ran the short race as he 
best could. But as the Alumni arrived, they naturally avoid- 
ed taking possession of the seats usually occupied by the gov- 
ernment of the College. The Governor, Increase Sumner, I 
suppose, was present, and no doubt all possible respect was 
paid to the Overseers as well as to the Corporation. I was 
not present, but dined at my father's house with a few friends, 
of whom the late Hon. Moses Brown of Beverly was one. 
We went together to the College hall after dinner ; but the 
honorable and reverend Corporation and Overseers had re- 
tired, and I do not remember whether there was any person 
presiding. If there were, a statue would have been as well. 
The age of wine and wassail, those potent aids to patriotism, 
mirth, and song, had not wholly passed away. The merry 
glee was at that time outrivalled by Adams and Liberty, the 
national patriotic song, so often and on so many occasions 
sung, and everywhere so familiarly known that all could join 
in grand chorus." — Memories of Youth and Manhood^ Vol. 
II. pp. 4, 5. 

The irregularities of Commencement week seem at a very 



* The Kev. Dr. Simeon Howard, senior clergyman of the Corporation, 
presided at the public exercises and announced the degrees. 



104 COLLEGE WORDS 

early period to have attracted the attention of the College 
government ; for we find that in 1728, to prevent disorder, a 
formal request was made by the President, at the suggestion 
of the immediate government, to Lieutenant-Governor Dum- 
mer, praying him to direct the sheriff of Middlesex to prohibit 
the setting up of booths and tents on those public days. Some 
years after, in 1732, " an interview took place between the 
Corporation and tliree justices of the peace in Cambridge, to 
concert measures to keep order at Commencement, and under 
their warrant to estabhsh a constable with six men, who, by 
watching and walking towards the evening on these days, and 
also the night following, and in and about the entry at the 
College Hall at dinner-time, should prevent disorders." At 
the beginning of the present century, it was customary for 
two special justices to give their attendance at this period, in 
order to try offences, and a guard of twenty constables was 
usually present to preserve order and attend on the justices. 
Among the writings of one, who for fifty years was a constant 
attendant on these occasions, are the following memoranda, 
which are in themselves an explanation of the customs of 
early years. " Commencement, 1828 ; no tents on the Com- 
mon for the first time." " Commencement, 1836 ; no per- 
sons intoxicated in the hall or out of it ; the first time." 

The following extract from the works of a French traveller 
will be read with interest by some, as an instance of the man- 
ner in which our institutions are sometimes regarded by for- 
eigners. "In a free country, everything ought to bear the 
stamp of patriotism. This patriotism appears every year in 
a solemn feast celebrated at Cambridge in honor of the sci- 
ences. This feast, which takes place once a year in all the 
colleges of America, is called Commencement. It resembles 
the exercises and distribution of prizes in our colleges. It is 
a day of joy for Boston ; almost all its inhabitants assemble 
in Cambridge. The most distinguished of the students dis- 
play their talents in the presence of the public ; and these 
exercises, wliich are generally on patriotic subjects, are ter- 
minated by a feast, where reign the freest gayety and the 



AND CUSTOMS. 105 

most cordial fraternity." — Brissofs Travels in U. S., 1788. 
London, 1794, Vol. I. pp. 85, 86. 

For an account of the chair from which the President 
delivers diplomas on Commencement Day, see President's 
Chair. 

At Yale College, the first Commencement was held Sep- 
tember 13th, 1702, while that institution was located at Say- 
brook, at which four young men who had before graduated at 
Harvard College, and one whose education had been private, 
received the degree of Master of Arts. This and several 
Commencements following were held privately, according to 
an act which had been passed by the Trustees, in order to 
avoid unnecessary expense and other inconveniences. In 
1718, the year in which the first College edifice was complet- 
ed, was held at New Haven the first public Commencement. 
The following account of the exercises on this occasion was 
written at the time by one of the College officers, and is cited 
by President Woolsey in his Discourse before the Graduates 
of Yale College, August 14th, 1850. " [We were] favored 
and honored with the presence of his Honor, Governor Sal- 
tonstall, and his lady, and the Hon. Col. Taylor of Boston, 
and the Lieutenant-Governor, and the whole Superior Court, 
at our Commencement, September 10th, 1718, where the 
Trustees present, — those gentlemen being present, — in the 
hall of our new College, first most solemnly named our Col- 
lege by the name of Yale College, to perpetuate the memory 
of the honorable Gov. Elihu Yale, Esq., of London, who had 
granted so liberal and bountiful a donation for the perfecting 
and adorning of it. Upon which the honorable Colonel Tay- 
lor represented Governor Yale in a speech expressing his 
great satisfaction ; which ended, we passed to the church, and 
there the Commencement was carried on. In which affair, 
in the first place, after prayer an oration was had by the 
saluting orator, James Pierpont, and then the disputations as 
usual ; which concluded, the Rev. Mr. Davenport [one of 
the Trustees and minister of Stamford] offered an excellent 
oration in Latin, expressing their thanks to Almighty God, 



106 COLLEGE WORDS 

and Mr. Yale under him, for so public a favor and so great 
regard to our languishing school. After which were gradu- 
ated ten young men, whereupon the Hon. Gov. Saltonstall, 
in a Latin speech, congratulated the Trustees in their success 
and in the comfortable appearance of things with relation to 
their school. All which ended, the gentlemen returned to 
the College Hall, where they were entertained with a splen- 
did dinner, and the ladies, at the same time, were also enter- 
tained in the Library ; after which they sung the four first 
verses in the 65th Psalm, and so the day ended." — p. 24. 

The following excellent and interesting account of the ex- 
ercises and customs of Commencement at Yale College, in 
former times, is taken from the entertaining address referred 
to above : — " Commencements were not to be public, accord- 
ing to the wishes of the first Trustees, through fear of the 
attendant expense ; but another practice soon prevailed, and 
continued with three or four exceptions until the breaking out 
of the war in 1775. They were then private for five years, 
on account of the times. The early exercises of the candi- 
dates for the first degree were a ' saluting ' oration in Latin, 
succeeded by syllogistic disputations in the same language; 
and the day was closed by the Masters' exercises, — disputa- 
tions and a valedictory. According to an ancient academical 
practice, theses were printed and distributed upon this occa- 
sion, indicating what the candidates for a degree had studied, 
and were prepared to defend ; yet, contrary to the usage still 
prevailing at universities which have adhered to the old meth- 
od of testing proficiency, it does not appear that these theses 
were ever defended in public. They related to a variety of 
subjects in Technology, Logic, Grammar, Rhetoric, Mathe- 
matics, Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, and afterwards Theol- 
ogy. The candidates for a Master's degree also published 
theses at this time, which were called Qucestio7ies magistrales. 
The syllogistic disputes were held between an affirmant and 
respondent, who stood in the side galleries of the church op- 
posite to one another, and shot the weapons of their logic 
over the heads of the audience. The saluting Bachelor and 



AND CUSTOMS. 107 

the Master who delivered the valedictory stood in the front 
gallery, and the audience huddled around below them to catch 
their Latin eloquence as it fell. It seems also to have been 
usual for the President to pronounce an oration in some for- 
eign tongue upon the same occasion.* 

" At the first public Commencement under President Stiles, 
in 1781, we find from a particular description which has been 
handed down, that the original plan, as above described, was 
subjected for the time to considerable modifications. The 
scheme, in brief, was as follows. The salutatory oration 
was delivered by a member of the graduating class, who is 
now our aged and honored townsman. Judge Baldwin. This 
was succeeded by the syllogistic disputations, and these by a 
Greek oration, next to which came an English colloquy. Then 
followed a forensic disputation, in which James Kent was one 
of the speakers. Then President Stiles delivered an oration 
in Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic, — it being an extraordinary 
occasion. After which the morning was closed with an Eng- 
lish oration by one of the graduating class. In the afternoon, 
the candidates for the second degree had the time, as usual, 
to themselves, after a Latin discourse by President Stiles. 
The exhibiters appeared in syllogistic disputes, a dissertation, 
a poem, and an English oration. Among these performers 
we find the names of Noah Webster, Joel Barlow, and Oliver 
Wolcott. Besides the Commencements there were exhibitions 
upon quarter-days, as they were called, in December and 
March, as well as at the end of the third term, when the 
younger classes performed ; and an exhibition of the Seniors 
in July, at the time of their examination for degrees, when 
the valedictory orator was one of their own choice. This 
oration was transferred to the Commencement about the 
year 1798, when the Masters' valedictories had fallen into 
disuse ; and being in English, gave a new interest to the ex- 
ercises of the day. 

" Commencements were long occasions of noisy mirth, and 

* See under Thesis and Master's Question, 



108 COLLEGE WORDS 

even of riot. The older records are full of attempts, on the 
part of the Corporation, to put a stop to disorder and extrava- 
gance at this anniversary. From a document of 1731, it ap- 
pears that cannons had been fired in honor of the day, and 
students were now forbidden to have a share in this on pain 
of degradation. The same prohibition was found necessary 
again in 1755, at which time the practice had grown up of 
illuminating the College buildings upon Commencement eve. 
But the habit of drinking spirituous Kquor, and of furnishing 
it to friends, on this pubhc occasion, grew up into more seri- 
ous evils. In the year 1737, the Trustees, havmg found that 
there was a great expense in spirituous distilled hquors upon 
Commencement occasions, ordered that for the future no can- 
didate for a degree, or other student, should provide or allow 
any such Hquors to be drunk in his chamber during Com- 
mencement week. And again, it was ordered in 1746, with 
the view of preventing several extravagant and expensive 
customs, that there should be ' no kind of public treat but on 
Commencement, quarter-days, and the day on which the vale- 
dictory oration was pronounced ; and on that day the Seniors 
may provide and give away a barrel of metheglin, and noth- 
ing more.' But the evil continued a long time. In 1760, it 
appears that it was usual for the graduating class to provide 
a pipe of wine, in the payment of which each one was forced 
to join. The Corporation now attempted by very stringent 
law to break up this practice ; but the Senior Class having 
united in bringing large quantities of rum into College, the 
Commencement exercises were suspended, and degrees were 
withheld until after a public confession of the class. In the 
two next years degrees were given at the July examination, 
with a view to prevent such disorders, and no public Com- 
mencement was celebrated. Similar scenes are not known to 
have occurred afterwards, although for a long time that anni- 
versary wore as much the aspect of a training-day as of a 
literary festival. 

" The Commencement Day in the modern sense of the 
term — that is, a gathering of graduated members and of 



AND CUSTOMS. 109 

others drawn together by a common interest in the College, 
and in its young members who are leaving its walls — has 
no counterpart that I know of in the older institutions of 
Europe. It arose by degrees out of the former exercises 
upon this occasion, with the addition of such as had been 
usual before upon quarter-days, or at the presentation in July. 
For a time several of the commencing Masters appeared on 
the stage to pronounce orations, as they had done before. In 
process of time, when they had nearly ceased to exhibit, this 
anniversary began to assume a somewhat new feature ; the 
peculiarity of w^hich consists in this, that the graduates have 
a literary festival more peculiarly their own, in the shape of 
discourses delivered before their assembled body, or before 
some literary society." — ¥/oolsey''s Historical Discourse, pp. 
65 - 68. 

Further remarks concerning the observance of Commence- 
ment at Yale College may be found in Ebenezer Baldwin's 
" Annals " of that institution, pp. 189 - 197. 

An article '"' On the Date of the First Public Commence- 
ment at Yale College, in New Haven," will be read with 
pleasure by those who are interested in the deductions of an- 
tiquarian research. It is contained in the "Yale Literary 
Magazine," VoL XX. pp. 199, 200. 

The following account of Commencement at Dartmouth 
College, on Wednesday, August 24th, 1774, written by Dr. 
Belknap, may not prove uninteresting. 

" About eleven o'clock, the Commencement began in a 
large tent erected on the east side of the College, and cov- 
ered with boards ; scaffolds and seats being prepared. 

" The President began with a prayer in the usual strain. 
Then an English oration was spoken by one of the Bachelors, 
complimenting the Trustees, &c. A syllogistic disputation on 
this question : Amicitia vera non est absque amore divina. 
Then a cliosophic oration. Then an anthem, ' The voice of 
my beloved sounds,' &c. Then a forensic dispute, Whether 
Christ died for all men ? which was well supported on both 
sides. Then an anthem, ' Lift up your heads, O ye gates,' &c. 
10 



110 COLLEGE WORDS 

" The company were invited to dine at the President's and 
the hall. The Connecticut lads and lasses, I observed, walked 
about hand in hand in procession, as 't is said they go to a 
wedding. 

" Afternoon. The exercises began with a Latin oration on 
the state of society by Mr. Hipley. Then an English Oration 
on the Imitative Arts, by Mr. J. Wheelock. The degrees were 
then conferred, and, in addition to the usual ceremony of the 
book, diplomas were delivered to the candidates, with this 
form of words : ' Admitto vos ad primum (vel secundum) 
gradum in artibus pro more Academiarum in Anglia, vobisque 
trado hunc librum, una cum potestate publice prelegendi ubi- 
cumque ad hoc munus avocati fueritis (to the masters was 
added, fuistis vel fueritis), cujus rei hsec diploma membrana 
scripta est testimonium.' Mr. Woodward stood by the Presi- 
dent, and held the book and parchments, delivering and ex- 
changing them as need requked. Rev. Mr. Benjamin Pome- 
roy, of Hebron, was admitted to the degree of Doctor in 
Divinity. 

"After this, McGregore and Sweetland, two Bachelors, 
spoke a dialogue of Lord Lyttleton's between Apicius and 
Darteneuf, upon good eating and drinking. The Mercury 
(who comes in at the close of the piece) performed his part 
but clumsily ; but the two epicures did well, and the Presi- 
dent laughed as heartily as the rest of the audience ; though, 
considering the circumstances, it might admit of some doubt, 
whether the dialogue were really a burlesque, or a compli- 
ment to the College. 

"An anthem and prayer concluded the public exercises. 
Much decency and regularity were observable through the 
day, in the numerous attending concourse of people." — Life 
of Jeremy Belknap, D.D., pp. 69-71. 

At Shelby College, Ky., it is customary at Commencement 
to perform plays, with appropriate costumes, at stated inter- 
vals during the exercises. 

An account of the manner in which Commencement has 
been observed at other colleges would only be a repetition of 



AND CUSTOMS. Ill 

what has been stated above, in reference to Harvard and 
Yale. These being, the former the first, and the latter the 
third institution founded in our country, the colleges which 
were estabhshed at a later period grounded, not only their 
laws, but to a great extent their customs, on the laws and 
customs which prevailed at Cambridge and New Haven. 

COMMENCEMENT CARD. At Union College, there is 
issued annually at Commencement a card containing a pro- 
gramme of the exercises of the day, signed with the names 
of twelve of the Senior Class, who are members of the four 
principal college societies. These cards are worded in the 
form of invitations, and are to be sent to the friends of the 
students. To be " on the Commencement card " is esteemed 
an honor, and is eagerly sought for. At other colleges, invi- 
tations are often issued at this period, usually signed by the 
President. 

COMMENCER. In American colleges, a member of the 
Senior Class, after the examination for degrees; generally, 
one who commences. 

These exercises were, besides an oration usually made by the 
President, orations both salutatory and valedictory, made by some 
or other of the commencers. — Mather's Magnolia, B. TV. p. 128. 

The Corporation with the Tutors shall visit the chambers of the 
commencers to see that this law be well observed. ^— Peirce's Hist. 
Harv. Univ., App., p. 137. 

Thirty commencers, besides Mr. Rogers, &c. — Ibid., App., p. 
150. 

COMMERS. In the German universities, a party of students 
assembled for the purpose of making an excursion to some 
place in the country for a day's jollification. On such an oc- 
casion, the students usually go " in a long train of carriages 
with outriders " ; generally, a festive gathering of the stu- 
dents. — Howitt's Student Life of Germany, Am. ed., p. 56 ; 
see also Chap. XVI. 

COMMISSARY. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., an 
officer under the Chancellor, and appointed by him, who holds 



112 COLLEGE WORDS 

a court of record for all priA-ileged persons and scholars under 
the degree of M. A. In this court, all causes are tried and 
determined by the civil and statute law, and by the custom of 
the University. — Cam, Gal. 

COMMON. To board together ; to eat at a table in common. 

COMMONEE. A student of the second rank in the Univer- 
sity of Oxford, Eng., who is not dependent on the foundation 
for support, but pays for his board or commons, together with 
all other charges. Corresponds to a Pensioner at Cam- 
bridge. See Gentleman Commoner. 
2. One who boards in commons. 

In all cases where those who do damage to the table furniture, or 
in the steward's kitchen, cannot be detected, the amount shall be 
charged to the commoners. — Laws Union Coll., 1807, p. 34. 

The steward shall keep an accurate list of the commoners. — 
Ibid., 1807, p. 34. 

COMMON EOOM. The room to which all the members of 
the college have access. There is sometimes one common 
room for graduates, and another for undergraduates. — CraWs 
Tech. Diet. 

Oh, could the days once more but come, 
When calm I emoak'd in common room. 

The Student, Oxf. and Cam., 1750, Yol I. p. 237. 

COMMONS. Food provided at a common table, as in col- 
leges, where many persons eat at the same table, or in the 
same hall. — Webster. 

Commons were introduced into Harvard College at its first 
establishment, in the year 1636, in imitation of the English 
universities, and from that time until the year 1849, when 
they were abolished, seem to have been a never-failing source 
of uneasiness and disturbance. While the infant College, 
with the title only of " school," was under the superinten- 
dence of Mr. Nathaniel Eaton, its first "master," the bad- 
ness of commons was one of the principal causes of complaint. 
" At no subsequent period of the College history," says Mr. 
Quincy, " has discontent with commons been more just and 



AND CUSTOMS. 113 

well founded, than under the huswifery of Mrs. Eaton." " It 
is perhaps owing," Mr. Winthrop observes in his History of 
New England, " to the gallantry of our fathers, that she was 
not enjoined in the perpetual malediction they bestowed on 
her husband." A few years after, we read, in the " Informa- 
tion given by the Corporation and Overseers to the General 
Court," a proposition either to make " the scholars' charges 
less, or their commons better." For a long period after this 
we have no account of the state of commons, " but it is not 
probable," says Mr. Peirce, " they were materially diflferent 
from what they have been since." ' 

During the administration of President Holyoke, from 1737 
to 1769, commons were the constant cause of disorders among 
the students. There appears to have been a very general 
permission to board in private families before the year 1737 : 
an attempt was then made to compel the undergraduates to 
board in commons. After many resolutions, a law was finally 
passed, in 1760, prohibiting them " from dining or supping 
in any house in town, except on an invitation to dine or sup 
gratis^ " The law," says Quincy, " was probably not very 
strictly enforced. It was limited to one year, and was not 
renewed." 

An idea of the quality of commons may be formed from 
the following accounts furnished by Dr. Holyoke and Judge 
Wingate. According to the former of these gentlemen, who 
graduated in 1746, the " breakfast was two sizings of bread 
and a cue of beer " ; and " evening commons were a pye." 
The latter, who graduated thirteen years after, says : " As to 
the commons, there were in the morning none while I was 
in College. At dinner, we had, of rather ordinary quality, a 
sufficiency of meat of some kind, either baked or boiled ; and 
at supper, we had either a pint of milk and half a biscuit, or 
a meat pye of some other kind. Such were the commons in 
the hall in my day. They were rather ordinary ; but I was 
young and hearty, and could live comfortably upon them. I 
had some classmates who paid for their commons and never 
entered the hall while they belonged to the College. We 
10* 



114 COLLEGE WORDS 

were allowed at dinner a cue of beer, which was a half-pint, 
and a sizing of bread, which I cannot describe to you. It 
was quite sufficient for one dinner." By a vote of the Corpo- 
ration in 1750, a law was passed, declaring " that the quan- 
tity of commons be as hath been usual, viz. two sizes of 
bread in the morning ; one pound of meat at dinner, with 
sufficient sauce " (vegetables), " and a half a pint of beer ; 
and at night that a part pie be of the same quantity as usual, 
and also half a pint of beer ; and that the supper messes be 
but of four parts, though the dinner messes be of six." This 
agrees in substance with the accounts given above. The con- 
sequence of such diet was, " that the sons of the rich," says 
Mr. Quincy, " accustomed to better fare, paid for commons, 
which they would not eat, and never entered the hall ; while 
the students whose resources did not admit of such an evasion 
were perpetually dissatisfied." 

About ten years after, another law was made, " to restrain 
scholars from breakfasting in the houses of town's" people," 
and provision was made " for their being accommodated with 
breakfast in the hall, either milk, chocolate, tea, or coffee, as 
they should respectively choose." They were allowed, how- 
ever, to provide themselves with breakfasts in their own 
chambers, but not to breakfast in one another's chambers. 
From this period breakfast was as regularly provided in 
commons as dinner, but it was not until about the year 1807 
that an evening meal was also regularly provided. 

In the year 1765, after the erection of HoUis Hall, the 
accommodations for students within the walls were greatly 
enlarged ; and the inconvenience being thus removed which 
those had experienced who, living out of the College build- 
ings, were compelled to eat in commons, a system of laws 
was passed, by which all who occupied rooms within the Col- 
lege walls were compelled to board constantly in commons, 
" the officers to be exempted only by the Corporation, with 
the consent of the Overseers ; the students by the President, 
only when they were about to be absent for at least one 
week." Scarcely a year had passed under this new regime, 



AND CUSTOMS. 115 

" before," says Quincy, " an open revolt of the students took 
place on account of the provisions, which it took more than a 
month to quell." '' Although," he continues, " their proceed- 
ings were violent, illegal, and insulting, yet the records of the 
immediate government show unquestionably, that the disturb- 
ances, in their origin, were not wholly without cause, and that 
they were aggravated by want of early attention to very 
natural and reasonable complaints." 

During the war of the American Revolution, the difficulty 
of providing satisfactory commons was extreme, as may be 
seen from the following vote of the Corporation, passed Aug. 
11th, 1777. 

"Whereas by law 9th of Chap. VI. it is provided, *that 
there shall always be chocolate, tea, coffee, and milk for 
breakfast, with bread and biscuit and butter,' and whereas 
the foreign articles above mentioned are now not to be pro- 
cured without great difficulty, and at a very exorbitant price ; 
therefore, that the charge of commons may be kept as Ioav as 
possible, — 

^^ Voted, That the Steward shall provide at the common 
charge only bread or biscuit and milk for breakfast ; and, if 
any of the scholars choose tea, coffee, or chocolate for break- 
fast, they shall procure those articles for themselves, and like- 
wise the sugar and butter to be used with them ; and if any 
scholars choose to have their milk boiled, or thickened with 
flour, if it may be had, or Avith meal, the Steward, having 
seasonable notice, shall provide it; and further, as salt fish 
alone is appointed by the aforesaid law for the dinner on 
Saturdays, and this article is now risen to a very high price, 
and through the scarcity of salt will probably be higher, the 
Steward shall not be obliged to provide salt fish, but shall 
procure fresh fish as often as he can." — Quincifs Hist. Haw. 
Univ., Vol. II. p. 541. 

Many of the facts in the following account of commons 
prior to, and immediately succeeding, the year 1800, have 
been furnished by Mr. Royal Morse of Cambridge. 

The hall where the students took their meals was usually 



116 COLLEGE WORDS 

provided with ten tables ; at each table were placed two 
messes, and each mess consisted of eight persons. The tables 
where the Tutors and Seniors sat were raised eighteen or 
twenty inches, so as to overlook the rest. It was the duty of 
one of the Tutors or of the Librarian to " ask a blessing and 
return thanks," and in their absence, the duty devolved on 
" the senior graduate or undergraduate." The waiters were 
students, chosen from the different classes, and receiving for 
their services suitable compensation. Each table was waited 
on by members of the class which occupied it, with the ex- 
ception of the Tutor's table, at which members of the Senior 
Class served. Unlike the sizars and servitors at the English 
universities, the waiters were usually much respected, and 
were in many cases the best scholars in their respective 
classes. 

The breakfast consisted of a specified quantity of coffee, a 
size of baker's biscuit, which was one biscuit, and a size of 
butter, which was about an ounce. If any one wished for 
more than was provided, he was obliged to size it, i. e. order 
from the kitchen or buttery, and this was charged as extra 
commons or sizings in the quarter-bill. 

At dinner, every mess was served with eight pounds of 
meat, allowing a pound to each person. On Monday and 
Thursday the meat was boiled ; these days were on this ac- 
count commonly called " boiling days." On the other days 
the meat was roasted ; these were accordingly named " roast- 
ing days." Two potatoes were allowed to each person, which 
he was obliged to pare for himself. On boiling days, pudding 
and cabbage were added to the bill of fare, and in their sea- 
son, greens, either dandelion or the wild pea. Of bread, a 
size was the usual quantity apiece, at dinner. Cider was the 
common beverage, of which there was no stated allowance, 
but each could drink as much as he chose. It was brought 
on in pewter quart cans, two to a mess, out of which they 
drank, passing them from mouth to mouth like the English 
wassail-bowl. The waiters replenished them as soon as they 
were emptied. 



AND CUSTOMS. 117 

No regular supper was provided, but a bowl of milk, and 
a size of bread procured at the kitchen, supplied the place of 
the evening meal. 

Respecting the arrangement of the students at table, before 
referred to. Professor Sidney Willard remarks : " The inter- 
course among students at meals was not casual or promiscu- 
ous. Generally, the students of the same class formed them- 
selves into messes, as they were called, consisting each of 
eight members ; and the length of one table was sufficient to 
seat two messes. A mess was a voluntary association of those 
who liked each other's company ; and each member had his 
own place. This arrangement was favorable for good order ; 
and, where the members conducted themselves with propri- 
ety, their cheerful conversation, and even exuberant spirits 
and hilarity, if not too boisterous, were not unpleasant to that 
portion of the government who presided at the head table. 
But the arrangement afforded opportunities also for combin- 
ing in factious plans and organizations, tending to disorders, 
which became infectious, and terminated unhappily for all 
concerned." — Memories of Youth and Manhood, Vol. II. pp. 
192, 193. 

A writer in the New England Magazine, referring to the 
same period, says : " In commons, we fared as well as one 
half of us had been accustomed to at home. Our breakfast 
consisted of a good-sized biscuit of wheaten flour, with butter 
and coffee, chocolate, or milk, at our option. Our dinner was 
served up on dishes of pewter, and our drink, which was 
cider, in cans of the same material. For our suppers, we 
went with our bowls to the kitchen, and received our rations 
of milk, or chocolate, and bread, and returned with them to 
our rooms." — Vol. III. p. 239. 

Although much can be said in favor of the commons sys- 
tem, on account of its economy and its suitableness to health 
and study, yet these very circumstances which were its chief 
recommendation were the occasion also of all the odium which 
it had to encounter. " That simplicity," says Peirce, " which 
makes the fare cheap, and wholesome, and philosophical, ren- 



118 COLLEGE WORDS 

ders it also unsatisfactory to dainty palates ; and the occasion- 
al appearance of some unlucky meat, or other food, is a signal 
for a general outcry against the provisions." In the plain but 
emphatic words of one who was acquainted with the state of 
commons, as they once were at Harvard College, " the butter 
was sometimes so bad, that a farmer would not take it to 
grease his cart-wheels with." It was the usual practice of 
the Steward, when veal was cheap, to furnish it to the stu- 
dents three, four, and sometimes five times in the week ; the 
same with reference to other meats when they could be bought 
at a low price, and especially with lamb. The students, after 
eating this latter kind of meat for five or six successive weeks, 
would often assemble before the Steward's house, and, as if 
their natures had been changed by their diet, would bleat and 
blatter until he was fain to promise them a change of food, 
upon which they would separate until a recurrence of the 
same evil compelled them to the same measures. 

The annexed account of commons at Yale Collegej in for- 
mer times, is given by President Woolsey, in his Historical 
Discourse, pronounced at New Haven, August 14th, 1850. 

" At first, a college without common meals was hardly con- 
ceived of; and, indeed, if we trace back the history of colleges 
as they grew up at Paris, nothing is more of their essence 
than that students lived and ate together in a kind of convent- 
ual system. No doubt, also, when the town of New Haven 
was smaller, it was far more difiicult to find desirable places 
for boarding than at present. But however necessary, the 
Steward's department was always beset with difficulties and 
exposed to complaints which most gentlemen present can 
readily understand. The following rations of commons, voted 
by the Trustees in 1742, will show the state of college fare 
at that time. ' Ordered, that the Steward shall provide the 
commons for the scholars as follows, viz. : For breakfast, 
one loaf of bread for four, which [the dough] shall weigh one 
pound. For dinner for four, one loaf of bread as aforesaid, 
two and a half pounds beef, veal, or mutton, or one and three 
quarter pounds salt pork about twice a week in the summer 



AND CUSTOMS. 119 

time, one quart of beer, two pennyworth of sauce [vegeta- 
bles]. For supper for four, two quarts of milk and one loaf 
of bread, when milk can conveniently be had, and when it 
cannot, then apple-pie, which shall be made of one and three 
fourth pounds dough, one quarter pound hog's fat, two ounces 
sugar, and half a peck apples.' In 1759 we find, from a vote 
prohibiting the practice, that beer had become one of the 
articles allowed for the evening meal. Soon after this, the 
evening meal was discontinued, and, as is now the case in the 
English colleges, the students had supper in their own rooms, 
which led to extravagance and disorder. In the Revolution- 
ary war the Steward was quite unable once or twice to pro- 
vide food for the College, and this, as has already appeared, 
led to the dispersion of the students in 1776 and 1777, and 
once again in 1779 delayed the beginning of the winter term 
several weeks. Since that time, nothing peculiar has occurred 
with regard to commons, and they continued with all their 
evils of coarse manners and wastefulness for sixty years. 
The conviction, meanwhile, was increasing, that they were no 
essential part of the College, that on the score of economy 
they could claim no advantage, that they degraded the man- 
ners of students and fomented disorder. The experiment of 
suppressing them has hitherto been only a successful one. No 
one, who can retain a lively remembrance of the commons and 
the manners as they were both before and since the building 
of the new hall in 1819, will wonder that this resolution was 
adopted by the authorities of the College." — pp. 70-72. 

The regulations which obtained at meal-time in commons 
were at one period in these words : " The waiters in the hall, 
appointed by the President, are to put the victuals on the 
tables spread with decent linen cloths, which are to be washed 
every week by the Steward's procurement, and the Tutors, or 
some of the senior scholars present, are to ask a blessing on 
the food, and to return thanks. All the scholars at meal- 
time are required to behave themselves decently and grave- 
ly, and abstain from loud talking. No victuals, platters, cups, 
&c. may be carried out of the hall, unless in case of sick- 



120 



COLLEGE WORDS 



ness, and with liberty from one of the Tutors. Nor may any 
scholar go out before thanks are returned. And when dinner 
is over, the waiters are to carry the platters and cloths back 
into the kitchen. And if any one shall offend in either of 
these things, or carry away anything belonging to the hall 
without leave, he shall be fined sixpence." — Laws of Tale 
Coll, 1774, p. 19. 

From a Httle work by a graduate at Yale College of the 
class of 1821, the accompanying remarks, referring to the 
system of commons as generally understood, are extracted. 

" The practice of boarding the students in commons was 
adopted by our colleges, naturally, and perhaps without re- 
flection, from the old universities of Europe, and particularly 
from those of England. At first those universities were with- 
out buildings, either for board or lodging ; being merely ren- 
dezvous for such as wished to pursue study. The students 
lodged at inns, or at private houses, defraying out of their 
own pockets, and in their own way, all charges for board and 
education. After a while, in consequence of the exorbitant 
demands of landlords, halls were built, and common tables 
furnished, to relieve them from such exactions. Colleges, 
with chambers for study and lodging, were erected for a like 
reason. Being founded, in many cases, by private munifi- 
cence, for the benefit of indigent students, they naturally 
included in their economy both lodging-rooms and board. 
There was also a police reason for the measure. It was 
thought that the students could be better regulated as to their 
manners and behavior, being brought together under the eye 
of supervisors." 

Omitting a few paragraphs, we come to a more particular 
account of some of the jocose scenes which resulted from the 
commons system as once developed at Yale College. 

" The Tutors, who were seated at raised tables, could not, 
with all their vigilance, see all that passed, and they winked 
at much they did see. Boiled potatoes, pieces of bread, whole 
loaves, balls of butter, dishes, would be flung back and forth, 
especially between Sophomores and Freshmen ; and you 



AND CUSTOMS. 121 

were never sure, in raising a cup to your lips, that it would 
not be dashed out of your hands, and the contents spilt upon 
your clothes, by one of these flying articles slyly sent at 
random. Whatever damage was done was averaged on our 
term-bills ; and I remember a charge of six hundred tum- 
blers, thirty coffee-pots, and I know not how many other arti- 
cles of table furniture, destroyed or carried off in a single 
term. Speaking of tumblers, it may be mentioned as an in- 
stance of the progress of luxury, even there, that down to 
about 1815 such a thing was not known, the drinking-vessels 
at dinner being capacious pewter mugs, each table being fur- 
nished with two. We were at one time a good deal incom- 
moded by the diminutive size of the milk-pitchers, which 
were all the while empty and gone for more. A waiter men- 
tioned, for our patience, that, when these were used up, a 
larger size would be provided. ' 0, if that 's the case, the 
remedy is easy.' Accordingly the hint was passed through 
the room, the offending pitchers were slyly placed upon the 
floor, and, as we rose from the tables, M^ere crushed under 
foot. The next morning the new set appeared. One of the 
classes being tired of lamh, lamb, lamh, wretchedly cooked, 
during the season of it, expressed their dissatisfaction by en- 
tering the hall bleating ; no notice of which being taken, a 
day or two after they entered in advance of the Tutors, and 
cleared the tables of it, throwing it out of the windows, plat- 
ters and all, and immediately retired. 

" In truth, not much could be said in commendation of our 
Alma Mater's table. A worse diet for sedentary men than 
that we had during the last days of the old hall, now the labo- 
ratory, cannot be imagined. I will not go into particulars, for 
I hate to talk about food. It was absolutely destructive of 
health. I know it to have ruined, permanently, the health 
of some, and I have not the least doubt of its having occa- 
sioned, in certain instances which I could specify, incurable 
debility and premature death." — Scenes and Characters in 
College, New Haven, 1847, pp. 113 - 117. 

See Invalid's Table. Slum. 
11 



122 COLLEGE WORDS 

That the commons at Dartmouth College were at times of 
a quality which would not be called the best, appears from 
the annexed paragraph, written in the year 1774. " He 
[Eleazer Wheelock, President of the College] has had the 
mortification to lose two cows, and the rest were greatly hurt 
by a contagious distemper, so that they could not have a full 
supply of milk ; and once the pickle leaked out of the beef- 
barrel, so that the meat was not sioeet. He had also been ill- 
used with respect to the purchase of some wheat, so that they 
had smutty bread for a while, &c. The scholars, on the other 
hand, say they scarce ever have anything but pork and greens, 
without vinegar, and pork and potatoes ; that fresh meat comes 
but very seldom, and that the victuals are very badly dressed." 

— Life of Jeremy Belknap, D.D., pp. 68, 69. 

The above account of commons applies generally to the 
system as it was carried out in the other colleges in the 
United States. In almost every college, commons have been 
abolished, and with them have departed the discords," dissatis- 
factions, and open revolts, of which they were so often the 
cause. 

See Bever. 

COMMORANTES IN VILLA. Latin ; literally, those abid- 
ing in town. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the des- 
ignation of Masters of Arts, and others of higher degree, who, 
residing within the precincts of the University, enjoy the 
privilege of being members of the Senate, without keeping 
their names on the college boards. — Gradus ad Cantab. 

To have a vote in the Senate, the graduate must keep his name 
on the books of some college, or on the list of the commorantes in 
villa.— Lit World, Vol. XU. p. 283. 

COMPOSITION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
translating English into Greek or Latin is called composition. 

— Bristed. 

In composition and cram I was yet untried. — Bristed' s Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 34. 
You will have to turn English prose into Greek and Latin prose, 



AND CUSTOMS. 123 

English verse into Greek Iambic Trimeters, and part of some cho- 
rus in the Agamemnon into Latin, and possibly also into English 
verse. This is the " composition^' and is to be done, remember, 
without the help of books or any other assistance. — Itid.^ p. 68. 

The term Composition seems in itself to imply that the translation 
is something more than a translation. — lUd., p. 185. 

Writing a Latin Theme, or original Latin verses, is desig- 
nated Original Composition. — Bristed. 

COMPOSUIST. A writer ; composer. " This extraordinary 
word," says Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, "has been 
much used at some of our colleges, but very seldom else- 
where. It is now rarely heard among us. A correspondent 
observes, that ' it is used in England among musicians.^ I 
have never met with it in any English publications upon the 
subject of music." 

The word is not found, I believe, in any dictionary of the 
English tongue. 

COMPOUNDER. One at a university who pays extraordi- 
nary fees, according to his means, for the degree he is to 
take. A Grand Compounder pays double fees. See the 
Customs and Laws of Univ. of Cam., JEng., p. 297. 

CONCIO AD CLERUM. A sermon to the clergy. In the 
English universities, an exercise or Latin sermon, which is 
required of every candidate for the degree of D. D. Used 
sometimes in America. 

In the evening the " concio ad clerum" will be preached. — Yale 
Lit. Mag., Vol. XK p. 426. 

CONDITION. A student on being examined for admission to 
college, if found deficient in certain studies, is admitted on 
condition he will make up the deficiency, if it is believed on 
the whole that he is capable of pursuing the studies of the 
class for which he is offered. The branches in which he is 
deficient are called conditions. 
Talks of Bacchus and tobacco, short sixes, sines, transitions, 
And Alma Mater takes him in on ten or tweJve conditions. 

Poem hefore Y. H. Soc, Harv. Coll. 



124 COLLEGE WOKDS 

Praying his guardian powers 
To assist a poor Sub Fresh at the dread Examination, 
And free from all conditions to insure his first vacation. 

Poem lefore ladma of Harv. Coll. 
CONDITION. To admit a student as member of a college, 
who on being examined has been found deficient in some par- 
ticular, the provision of his admission being that he will make 
up the deficiency. 

A young man shall come down to college from New Hampshire, 
with no preparation save that of a country winter-school, shall be 
examined and " conditioned " in everything, and yet he shall come 
out far ahead of his city Latin-school classmate. — A Letter to a 
Young Man luho has Just entered College^ 1849, p. 8. 

They find them.selves conditioned on the studies of the term, and 
not very generally respected. — Harvard Mag., Vol. I. p. 415. 

CONDUCT. The title of two clergymen appointed to read 
prayers at Eton College, in England. — 3fason. Wehster. 

CONFESSION. It was formerly the custom in the older 
American colleges, when a student had rendered himself 
obnoxious to punishment, provided the crime was not of an 
aggravated nature, to pardon and restore him to his place in 
the class, on his presenting a confession of his fault, to be read 
publicly in the hall. The Diary of President Leverett, of 
Harvard College, under date of the 20th of March, 1714, 
contains an interesting account of the confession of Larnel, an 
Indian student belonging to the Junior Sophister class, who 
had been guilty of some offence for which lie had been dis- 
missed from college. 

" He remained," says Mr. Leverett, " a considerable time 
at Boston, in a state of penance. He presented his confes- 
sion to Mr. Pemberton, who thereupon became his interces- 
sor, and in his letter to the President expresses himself thus : 
^ This comes by Larnel, who brings a confession as good as 
Austin's, and I am charitably disposed to hope it flows from 
a like spirit of penitence.' In the public reading of his con- 
fession, the flowing of his passions was extraordinarily timed, 
and his expressions accented, and most peculiarly and emphat- 



AND CUSTOMS. 125 

ically those of the grace of God to him ; which indeed did 
give a pecuhar grace to the performance itself, and raised, I 
believe, a charity in some that had very little I am sure, and 
ratified wonderfully that which I had conceived of him. Hav- 
ing made his public confession, he was restored to his standing 
in the College." — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. pp. 
443, 444. 
CONGREGATION. At Oxford, the house of congregation is 
one of the two assemblies in which the business of the Uni- 
versity, as such, is carried on. In this house the Chancellor, 
or his vicar the Vice- Chancellor, or in his absence one of his 
four deputies, termed Pro-Vice-Chancellors, and the two Proc- 
tors, either by themselves or their deputies, always preside. 
The members of this body are regents, " either regents ' ne- 
cessary^ or ' ad placitum,^ that is, on the one hand, all doctors 
and masters of arts, during the first year of their degree ; 
and on the other, all those who have gone through the year of 
their necessary regency, and which includes all resident doc- 
tors, heads of colleges and halls, professors and public lectur- 
ers, public examiners, masters of the schools, or examiners 
for responsions or ' little go,' deans and censors of colleges, 
and all other M. A.'s during the second year of their regen- 
cy." The business of the house of congregation, which may 
be regarded as the oligarchical body, is chiefly to grant de- 
grees, and pass graces and dispensations. — Oxford Guide. 

CONSERVATOR. An officer who has the charge of preserv- 
ing the rights and privileges of a city, corporation, or commu- 
nity, as in Roman Catholic universities. — Webster. 

CONSILIUM ABEUNDI. Latin ; freely, the decree of de- 
parture. In German universities, the consilium abeundi 
" consists in expulsion out of the district of the court of jus- 
tice within which the university is situated. This punish- 
ment lasts a year ; after the expiration of which, the banished 
student can renew his matriculation." — Howitt's Student Life 
of Germany, Am. ed., p. 33. 

CONSISTORY COURT. In the University of Cambridge, 
11* 



126 COLLEGE WORDS 

England, there is a consistory court of the Chancellor and of 
the Commissary. " For the former," says the Gradus ad 
Cantabrigiam, " the Chancellor, and in his absence the Vice- 
Chancellor, assisted bj some of the heads of houses, and one 
or more doctors of the civil law, administers justice desired 
by any member of the University, &c. In the latter, the 
Commissary acts by authority given him under the seal of 
the Chancellor, as well in the University as at Stourbridge 
and Midsummer fairs, and takes cognizance of all offences, 
&c. The proceedings are the same in both courts." 

CONSTITUTIONAL. Among students at the University of 
Cambridge, Eng., a walk for exercise. 

The gallop over Bullington, and the " consiitutional " up Head- 
ington. — Land. Quart. Rev., Am. ed., Vol. LXXIII. p. 53. 

Instead of boots he [the Cantab] wears easy low-heeled shoes, 
for greater convenience in fence and ditch jumping, and other feats 
of extempore gymnastics which diversify his '•'■ consiituiionals." — 
BristecVs Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 4. 

Even the mild walks which are dignified with the name of exer- 
cise there, how unlike the Cantab's constitutional of eight miles in 
less than two hours. — Ihid., p. 45. 

Lucky is the man who lives a mile off from his private tutor, or 
has rooms ten minutes' walk from chapel * he is sure of that much 
constitutional daily. — Ihid., p. 224. 

" Constitutionals" of eight miles in less than two hours, varied 
with jumping hedges, ditches, and gates ; " pulling " on the river, 

cricket, football, riding twelve miles without drawing bridle, 

are what he understands by his two hours' exercise. — Ihid., p. 328. 

CONSTITUTIONALIZING. Walking. 

The most usual mode of exercise is walking, — constitutionalizing 
is the Cantab for it. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, p. 19. 

CONVENTION. In the University of Cambridge, England, 
a court consisting of the Master and Fellows of a college, 
who sit in the Combination Room, and pass sentence on any 
young offender against the laws of soberness and chastity. — 
Gradus ad Cantahrigiam. 



AND CUSTOMS. 127 

CONVICTOR. JjSitm, a familiar acquaintance. In the Uni- 
versity of Oxford, those are called convictores who, although 
not belonging to the foundation of any college or hall, have 
at any time been regents, and have constantly kept their 
names on the books of some college or hall, from the time of 
their admission to the degree of M. A., or Doctors in either 
of the three faculties. — Oxf. Gal. 

CONVOCATIOISr. At Oxford, the house of convocation is 
one of the two assemblies in which the business of the Uni- 
versity, as such, is transacted. It consists both of regents and 
non-regents, " that is, in brief, all masters of arts not ' honor- 
ary,' or ' ad eundems ' from Cambridge or Dublin, and of 
course graduates of a higher order." In this house, the Chan- 
cellor, or his vicar the Vice-Chancellor, or in his absence one 
of his four deputies, termed Pro-Vice-Chancellors, and the two 
Proctors, either by themselves or their deputies, always pre- 
side. The business of this assembly — which may be con- 
sidered as the house of commons, excepting that the lords 
have a vote here equally as in their own upper house, i. e. 
the house of congregation — is unlimited, extending to all 
subjects connected with the well-being of the University, in- 
cluding the election of Chancellor, members of Parliament, and 
many of the officers of the University, the conferring of ex- 
traordinary degrees, and the disposal of the University eccle- 
siastical patronage. It has no initiative power, this resting 
solely with the hebdomadal board, but it can debate, and 
accept or refuse, the measures which originate in that board. 
— Oxford Guide. Literary World, Vol. XII. p. 223. 

In the University of Cambridge, England, an assembly of 
the Senate out of term time is called a convocation. In such 
a case a grace is immediately passed to convert the convoca- 
tion into a congregation, after which the business proceeds as 
usual. — Gam. Gal. 

2. At Trinity College, Hartford, the house of convocation 
consists of the Fellows and Professors, with all persons who 
have received any academic degree whatever in the same, 
except such as may be lawfully deprived of their privileges. 



128 COLLEGE WORDS 

Its business is such as may from time to time be delegated 
by the Corporation, from which it derives its existence ; and 
is, at present, limited to consulting and advising for the good 
of the College, nominating the Junior Fellows, and all candi- 
dates for admissions ad eundem ; making laws for its own 
regulation ; proposing plans, measures, or counsel to the Cor- 
poration ; and to instituting, endowing, and naming with con- 
currence of the same, professorships, scholarships, prizes, 
medals, and the hke. This and the Corporatioji compose the 
Senatus Academicus. — Calendar Trin. Coll., 1850, pp. 6, 7. 

COPE. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the ermined 
robe worn by a Doctor in the Senate House, on Congrega- 
tion Day, is called a co-pe. 

COPUS. " Of mighty ale, a large quarte." — Chaucer. 

The word co'pus and the beverage itself are both exten- 
sively used among the men of the University of Cambridge, 
England. "The conjecture," says the Gradus ad Canta- 
brigiam, "is surely ridiculous and senseless, that Co'pus is 
contracted from j^wcopus, a bishop, ' a mixture of wine, 
oranges, and sugar.' A copus of ale is a common fine at the 
student's table in hall for speaking Latin, or for some similar 
impropriety." 

COPY. At Cambridge, Eng., this word is applied exclusively 
to papers of verse composition. It is a public-school term 
transplanted to the University. — Bristed. 

CORPOPvAL PUNISHMENT. In the older American col- 
leges, corporal punishment was formerly sanctioned by law, 
and several instances remain on record which show that its 
infliction was not of rare occurrence. 

Among the laws, rules, and scholastic forms established 
between the years 1642 and 1646, by Mr. Dunster, the first 
President of Harvard College, occurs the following : " Siquis 
scholariura ullam Dei et hujus CoUegii legem, sive animo 
perverso, seu ex supina negligentia, violarit, postquam fuerit 
bis admonitus, si non adultus, virgis coerceatur, sin adultus, 
ad Inspectores Collegii deferendus erit, ut publice in eum pro 



AND CUSTOMS. 129 

meritis animadversio fiat." In the year 1656, this law was 
strengthened by another, recorded by Quincy, in these words : 
" It is hereby ordered that the President and Fellows of Har- 
vard College, for the time being, or the major part of them, 
are hereby empowered, according to their best discretion, to 
punish all misdemeanors of the youth in their society, either 
by fine, or tvhipping in the Hall openly, as the nature of the 
offence shall require, not exceeding ten shillings or ten stripes 
for one offence ; and this law to continue in force until this 
Court or the Overseers of the College provide some other 
order to punish such offences." — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., 
Voh I. pp. 578, 513. 

A knowledge of the existence of such laws as the above is 
in some measure a preparation for the following relation given 
by Mr. Peirce in his History of Harvard University. 

" At the period when Harvard College was founded," says 
that gentleman, " one of the modes of punishment in the great 
schools of England and other parts of Europe was corporal 
chastisement. It was accordingly introduced here, and was, 
no doubt, frequently put in practice. An instance of its in- 
fliction, as part of the sentence upon an offender, is presented 
in Judge Sewall's MS. Diary, with the particulars of a cere- 
monial, which was reserved probably for special occasions. 
His account will afford some idea of the manners and spirit 
of the age : — 

" 'June 15, 1674, Thomas Sargeant was examined by the 
Corporation finally. The advice of Mr. Danforth, Mr. 
Stoughton, Mr. Thacher, Mr. Mather (the present), was 
taken. This was his sentence : 

" ' That being convicted of speaking blasphemous words 
concerning the H. G., he should be therefore publickly 
whipped before all the scholars. 

" ' 2. That he should be suspended as to taking his degree 
of Bachelor. (Tiiis sentence read before him twice at the 
President's before the Committee and in the Library, before 
execution.) 

" ' 3. Sit alone by himself in the Hall uncovered at meals, 



130 COLLEGE WORDS 

during the pleasure of the President and Fellows, and be in 
all things obedient, doing what exercise was appointed him 
by the President, or else be finally expelled the College. 
The first was presently put in execution in the Library (Mr. 
Danforth, Jr. being present) before the scholars. He kneeled 
down, and the instrument, Goodman Hely, attended the 
President's word as to the performance of his part in the 
work. Prayer was had before and after by the President, 
July 1, 1674.'" 

".Men's ideas," continues Mr. Peirce, " must have been 
very different from those of the present day, to have toler- 
ated a law authorizing so degrading a treatment of the mem- 
bers of such a society. It may easily be imagined what com- 
plaints and uneasiness its execution must frequently have 
occasioned among the friends and connections of those who 
were the subjects of it. In one instance, it even occasioned 
the prosecution of a Tutor ; but this was as late .as 1733, 
when old rudeness had lost much of the people's reverence. 
The law, however, was suffered, with some modification, to 
continue more than a century. In the revised body of Laws 
made in the year 1734, we find this article : ' Notwithstand- 
ing the preceding pecuniary mulcts, it shall be lawful for the 
President, Tutors, and Professors, to punish Undergraduates 
by Boxing, when they shall judge the nature or circumstances 
of the offence call for it.' This relic of barbarism, however, 
was growing more and more repugnant to the general taste 
and sentiment. The late venerable Dr. Holyoke, who was 
of the class of 1746, observed, that in his day ' corporal pun- 
ishment was going out of use ' ; and at length it was expunged 
from the code, never, we trust, to be recalled from the rubbish 
of past absurdities." — pp. 227, 228. 

The last movements which were made in reference to cor- 
poral punishment are thus stated by President Quincy, in his 
History of Harvard University. " In July, 1755, the Over- 
seers voted, that it [the right of boxing] should be ' taken 
away.' The Corporation, however, probably regarded it as 
too important an instrument of authority to be for ever aban- 



AND CUSTOMS. 131 

doned, and voted, ' that it should be suspended, as to llie 
execution of it, for one year.' When this vote came before 
the Overseers for their sanction, the board hesitated, and 
appointed a large committee 'to consider and make report 
what punishments they apprehend proper to be substituted 
instead of boxing, in case it be thought expedient to repeal 
or suspend the law Avhich allows or establishes the same.' 
From this period the lavf disappeared, and the practice was 
discontinued." — Vol. 11. p. 134. 

The manner in which corporal punishment was formerly 
inflicted at Yale College is stated by President Woolsey, in 
his Historical Discourse, delivered at New Haven, August, 
1850. After speaking of the methods of punishing by fines 
and degradation, he thus proceeds to this topic : " There 
was a still more remarkable punishment, as it must strike the 
men of our times, and which, although for some reason or 
other no traces of it exist in any of our laws so far as I have 
discovered, was in accordance with the ' good old plan,' pur- 
sued probably ever since the origin of universities. I refer 
— ' horresco referens ' — - to the punishment of boxing or 
cuffing. It was applied before the Faculty to the luckless 
offender by the President, towards whom the culprit, in a 
standing position, inclined his head, while blows fell in quick 
succession upon either ear. No one seems to have been 
served in this way except Freshmen and commencing ' Soph- 
imores.' * I do not find evidence that this usage much sur- 
vived the first jubilee of the College. One of the few known 
instances of it, which is on other accounts remarkable, was 
as follows. A student in the first quarter of his Sophomore 
year, having committed an offence for w^hich he had been 
boxed when a Freshman, was ordered to be boxed again, 
and to have the additional penalty of acting as butler's waiter 
for one week. On presenting himself, more academico, for 
the purpose of having his ears boxed, and while the blow was 
falling, he dodged and fled from the room and the College. 

* The old way of spelling the word Sophomore, q. v. 



132 COLLEGE WORDS 

The beadle was thereupon ordered to try to find him, and to 
command him to keep himself out of College and out of the 
yard, and to appear at prayers the next evening, there to 
receive further orders. He was then publicly admonished 
and suspended ; but in four days after submitted to the pun- 
ishment adjudged, which was accordingly inflicted, and upon 
his public confession his suspension was taken off. Such 
public confessions, now unknown, were then exceedingly 
common." 

After referring to the instance mentioned above, in which 
corporal punishment was inflicted at Harvard College, the 
author speaks as follows, in reference to the same subject, as 
connected with the English universities. "The excerpts 
from the body of Oxford statutes, printed in the very year 
when this College was founded, threaten corporal punishment 
to persons of the proper age, — that is, below the age of 
eighteen, — for a variety of offences ; and among the rest for 
disrespect to Seniors, for frequenting places where ' vinum 
aut quivis alius potus aut herba Nicotiana ordinarie venditur,' 
for coming home to their rooms after the great Tom or bell 
of Christ's Church had sounded, and for playing football 
within the University precincts or in the city streets. But 
the statutes of Trinity College, Cambridge, contain more 
remarkable rules, which are in theory still valid, although 
obsolete in fact. All the scholars, it is there said, who are 
absent from prayers, — Bachelors excepted,. — if over eigh- 
teen years of age, ' shall be fined a half-penny, but if they 
have not completed the year of their age above mentioned, 
they shall be chastised with rods in the hall on Friday.' At 
this chastisement all undergraduates were required to be 
lookers on, the Dean having the rod of punishment in his 
hand ; and it was provided also, that whosoever should not 
answer to his name on this occasion, if a boy, should be 
flogged on Saturday. No doubt this rigor towards the 
younger members of the society was handed down from the 
monastic forms which education took in the earlier schools 
of the Middle Ages. And an advance in the age of admis- 



AND CUSTOMS. 



133 



sion, as well as a change in the tone of treatment of the young, 
may account for this system being laid aside at the universi- 

- ties ; although, as is well known, it continues to flourish at 
the great public schools of England." — pp. 49-51. 

CORPORATION. The general government of colleges and 
universities is usually vested in a corporation aggregate, 
which is preserved by a succession of members. " The 
President and Fellows of Harvard College," says Mr. Quia- 
cy in his History of Harvard University, " being the only 
Corporation in the Province, and so continuing during the 
whole of the seventeenth century, they early assumed, and 
had by common usage conceded to them, the name of " The 
Corporation,^^ by which they designate themselves in all the 
early records. Their proceedings are recorded as being done 
* at a meeting of the Corporation,^ or introduced by the 
formula, *It is ordered by the Corporation,^ without stating 
the number or the names of the members present, until April 
19th, 1675, when, under President Oakes, the names of those 
present were first entered on the records, and afterwards they 
were frequently, though not uniformly, inserted." — Vol. I. 
p. 274. 

2. At Trinity College, Hartford, the Corporation, on which 
the House of Convocation is wholly dependent, and to which, 
by law, belongs the supreme control of the College, consists 
of not more than twenty-four Trustees, resident within the 
State of Connecticut; the Chancellor and President of the 
College being ex officio members, and the Chancellor being 
ex officio President of the same. They have authority to fill 
their own vacancies ; to appoint to ofiices and professorships ; 
to direct and manage the funds for the good of the College ; 
and, in general, to exercise the powers of a collegiate soci- 
ety, according to the provisions of the charter. — Calendar 
Trin. Coll, 1850, p. 6. 

CORK. 1^ In some of the vSouthern colleges, this word, with a 

CALK, j derived meaning, signifies a complete stopper. Used 
in the sense of an entire failure in reciting ; an utter inabil- 
ity to answer an instructor's interrogatories. 
12 



134 COLLEGE WORDS 

COSTUME. At the English universities there are few objects 
that attract the attention of the stranger more than the vari- 
ous academical dresses worn bj the members of those insti- 
tutions. The following description of the various costumes 
assumed in the University of Cambridge is taken from " The 
Cambridge Guide," Ed. 1845. 

"A Doctor in Divinity has three robes : \h^ first, a gown 
made of scarlet cloth, with ample sleeves terminating in a 
point, and lined with rose-colored silk, which is worn in pub- 
lic processions, and on all state and festival days ; — the sec- 
ond is the cope, worn at Great St. Mary's during the service 
on Litany-days, in the Divinity Schools during an Act, and 
at Conciones ad Clerum ; it is made of scarlet cloth, and 
completely envelops the person, being closed down the front, 
which is trimmed with an edging of ermine ; at the back of 
it is affixed a hood of the same costly fur ; — the third is a 
gown made of black silk or poplin, with full, round sleeves, 
and is the habit commonly worn in public by a D. D. ; Doc- 
tors, however, sometimes wear a Master of Arts' gown, with a 
silli scarf. These several dresses are put over a black silk 
cassock, which covers the entire body, around which it is 
fastened by a broad sash, and has sleeves coming down to 
the wrists, like a coat. A handsome scarf of the same ma- 
terials, which hangs over the shoulders, and extends to 
the feet, is always worn with the scarlet and black gowns. 
A square black cloth cap, with silk tassel, completes the cos- 
tume. 

'■'"Doctors in the Civil Laiv and in Physic have two robes: 
the first is the scarlet gown, as just described, and the sec- 
ond, or ordinary dress of a D. C. L., is a black silk gown, 
with a plain square collar, the sleeves hanging down square 
to the feet ; — the ordinary gown of an M. D. is of the same 
shape, but trimmed at the collar, sleeves, and front with rich 
black silk lace. 

" A Doctor in Music commonly wears the same dress as a 
D. C. L. ; but on festival and scarlet-days is arrayed in a 
gown made of rich white damask silk, with sleeves and fa- 



AND CUSTOMS. 135 

cings of rose-color, a hood of the same, and a round black 
velvet cap with gold tassel. 

^^ Bachelors in Divinity and Masters of Arts wear a black 
gown, made of bombazine, poplin, or silk. It has sleeves ex- 
tending to the feet, with apertures for the arms just above the 
elbow, and may be distinguished by the shape of the sleeves, 
which hang down square, and are cut out at the bottom like 
the section of a horseshoe. 

^^ Bachelors in the Civil Law and in Physic wear a gown 
of the same shape as that of a Master of Arts. 

" All Graduates of the above ranks are entitled to wear a 
hat, instead of the square black cloth cap, with their gowns, 
and the custom of doing so is generally adopted, except by 
the Heads, Tutors, and University and College Officers, who 
consider it more correct to appear in the full academical cos- 
tume. 

" A Bachelor of Arts^ gown is made of bombazine or pop- 
lin, with large sleeves terminating in a point, v\rith apertures 
for the arms, just below the shoulder-joint.* Bachelor Fellow- 
Commoners usually wear silk gowns, and square velvet caps. 
The caps of other Bachelors are of cloth. 

" All the above, being Gh^aduates, when they use surplices 
in chapel wear over them their hoods, which are peculiar to 
the several degrees. The hoods oi Doctors are made of scar- 
let cloth, lined with rose-colored silk ; those of Bachelors in 
Divinity, and Non-Regent Masters of Arts, are of black silk ; 
those of Regent Masters of Arts and Bachelors in the Civil 
Laio and in Physic, of black silk lined with white ; and those 
of Bachelors of Arts, of black serge, trimmed with a border of 
white lamb's-wool. 

" The dresses of the Undergraduates are the following : — 

" A JSfoUeman has two gowns : the first in shape like that 
of the Fellow-Commoners, is made of purple Ducape, very 
richly embroidered with gold lace, and is worn in public pro- 

« 

* Speaking of Bachelors Avho are reading for fellowships, Bristed says, 
they " wear black gowns with two strings hanging loose in front." — Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ.^ Ed. 2d, p. 20. 



136 COLLEGE WORDS 

cessions, and on festival-days : a square black velvet cap with 
a very large gold tassel is worn with it; — the second, or 
ordinary gown, is made of black silk, with full round sleeves, 
and a hat is worn with it. The latter dress is worn also by 
the Bachelor Fellows of King's College. 

" A Fellow - Commoner wears a black prince's stuff gown, 
with a square collar, and straight hanging sleeves, which are 
decorated with gold lace ; and a square black velvet cap with 
a gold tassel. 

" The Fellow- Commoners of Emmanuel College wear a 
similar gown, with the addition of several gold-lace buttons 
attached to the trimmings on the sleeves ; — those of Trinity 
College have a purple prince's stuff gown, adorned with sil- 
ver lace,* and a silver tassel is attached to the cap ; — at 
Downing the gown is made of black silk, of the same shape, 
ornamented with tufts and silk lace ; and a square cap of vel- 
vet with a gold tassel is worn. At Jesus College, a Bachelor's 
silk gown is worn, plaited up at the sleeve, and with a gold 
lace from the shoulder to the bend of the arm. At Queen's 
a Bachelor's silk gown, with a velvet cap and gold tassel, is 
worn : the same at Corpus and Magdalene ; at the latter it is 
gathered and looped up at the sleeve, — at the former (Cor- 
pus) it has velvet facings. Married Fellow- Commoners usu- 
ally wear a black silk gown, with full, round sleeves, and a 
square velvet cap with silk tassel.f 

" The Pensioner's gown and cap are mostly of the same 
material and shape as those of the Bachelor's : the gown dif- 
fers only in the mode of trimming. At Trinity and Caius 
Colleges the gown is purple, with large sleeves, terminating 
in a point. At St. Peter's and Queen's, the gown is precise- 
ly the same as that of a Bachelor ; and at King's, the same, 
but made of fine black woollen cloth. At Corpus Christi is 



=^- Bristed speaks of the " bkie and silver gown " of Trinity Fellow- 
Commoner*s. — Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 34. 

t " A gold-tufted cap at Cambridge designates a eTohnian or Small- 
College Fellow- Commoner." — 76/c?., p. 136. 



AND CUSTOMS. 137 

worn a B. A. gown, with black velvet facings. At Downing 
and Trinity Hall the gown is made of black bombazine, with 
large sleeves, looped up at the elbows.* 

" Students in the Civil Law and in Physic, who have kept 
their Acts, wear a full-sleeved gown, and are entitled to use a 
B. A. hood. 

" Bachelors of Arts and Undergraduates are obliged by the 
statutes to wear their academical costume constantly in pub- 
lic, under a penalty of 65. 8^^. for every omission.f 

" Very few of the University Officers have distinctive 
dresses. 

" The Chancellor's gown is of black damask silk, very richly 
embroidered with gold. It is worn with a broad, rich lace 
band, and square velvet cap with large gold tassel. 

" The Vice - Chancellor dresses merely as a Doctor, except 
at Congregations in the Senate-House, when he wears a cope. 
When proceeding to St. Mary's, or elsewhere, in his official 
capacity, he is preceded by the three Esquire-Bedells with 
their silver maces, which were the gift of Queen Elizabeth. 

" The Regius Professors of the Civil Law and of Physic, 
when they preside at Acts in the Schools, wear copes, and 
round black velvet caps with gold tassels. 

" The Proctors are not distinguishable from other Masters 

* " The picture is not complete without the ' men,' all in their aca- 
demicals, as it is Sunday. The blue gown of Trinity has not exclusive 
possession of its own walks : various others are to be discerned, the Pem- 
broke looped at the sleeve, the Christ's and Catherine curiously crimped 
in front, and the Johnian with its unmistakable ' Crackling.' " — Bris- 
fed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 73. 

" On Saturday evenings, Sundays, and Saints' days the students wear 
surplices instead of their gowns, and very innocent and exemplary they 
look in them." — lUd., p. 21. 

t " The ignorance of the popular mind has often represented acade- 
micians riding, travelling, &c. in cap and gown. Any one who has had 
experience of the academic costume can tell that a sharp walk on a 
windy day in it is no easy matter, and a ride or a row would be pretty 
near an impossibility. Indeed, during these two hours [of hard exer- 
cise] it is as rare to see a student in a gown, as it is at other times to 
find him beyond the college walks without one." — Ibid , p. 19. 
12* 



138 COLLEGE WORDS 

of Arts, except at St. Mary's Cburcli and at Congregations, 
when they wear cassocks and black silk ruffs, and carry the 
Statutes of the University, being attended by two servants, 
dressed in large blue cloaks, ornamented with gold-lace buttons. 

" The Yeoman-Bedell, in processions, precedes the Esquire- 
Bedells, carrying an ebony mace, tipped with silver; his 
gown, as v/ell as those of the Marshal and School-Keeper, is 
made of black prince's stuff, with square collar, and square 
hanging sleeves." — pp. 28 - 33. 

At the University of Oxford, Eng., the costume of the 
Graduates is as follows : — 

"The Doctor in Divinity has three dresses: the first 
consists of a gown of scarlet cloth, vv^ith black velvet sleeves 
and facings, a cassock, sash, and scarf. This dress is worn 
on all public occasions in the Theatre, in public proces- 
sions, and on those Sundays and holidays marked (*) in 
the Oxford Calendar. The second is a habit of scarlet 
cloth, and a hood of the same color lined with black, and a 
black silk scarf: the Master of Arts' gown is worn under 
this dress, the sleeves appearing through the arm-holes of 
the habit. This is the dress of business ; it is used in Con- 
vocation, Congregation, at Morning Sermons at St. Mary's 
during the term, and at Afternoon Sermons at St. Peter's 
during Lent, with the exception of the Morning Sermon on 
Quinquagesima Sunday, and the Morning Sermons in Lent. 
The third, which is the usual dress in which a Doctor of Di- 
vinity appears, is a Master of Arts' gown, with cassock, sash, 
and scarf. The Vice- Chancellor and Heads of Colleges and 
Halls have no distinguishing dress, but appear on all occa- 
sions as Doctors in the faculty to which they belong. 

" The dresses worn by Graduates in Law and Physic are 
nearly the same. The Doctor has three. The first is a gown 
of scarlet cloth, with sleeves and facings of pink silk, and a 
round black velvet cap. This is the dress of state. The 
second consists of a habit and hood of scarlet cloth, the habit 
faced and the hood lined with pink silk. This habit, which 
is perfectly analogous to the second dress of the Doctor in 



AND CUSTOMS. 139 

Divinity, lias lately grown into disuse ; it is, however, retained 
by the Professors, and is always used in presenting to De- 
grees. The third or common dress of a Doctor in Law or 
Physic nearly resembles that of the Bachelor in these facul- 
ties ; it is a black silk gown richly ornamented with black 
lace ; the hood of the Bachelor of Laws (worn as a dress) is 
of purple silk, lined with white fur. 

" The dress worn by the Doctor of Music on public occa- 
sions is a rich white damask silk gown, with sleeves and 
facings of crimson satin, a hood of the same material, and a 
round black velvet cap. The usual dresses of the Doctor 
and of the Bachelor in Music are nearly the same as those 
of Law and Physic. 

" The Master of Arts wears a black gown, usually made of 
prince's stuff or crape, with long sleeves which are remarka- 
ble for the circular cut at the bottom. The arm comes through 
an aperture in the sleeve, which hangs down. The hood of a 
Master of Arts is black silk lined with crimson. 

" The gown of a Bachelor of Arts is also usually made of 
prince's stuff or crape. It has a full sleeve, looped up at the 
elbow, and terminating in a point ; the dress hood is black, 
trimmed Avith white fur. In Lent, at the time of determining 
in the Schools, a strip of lamb's-wool is v/orn in addition to 
the hood. Noblemen and Gentlemen- Commoners, who take 
the Degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts, wear their 
gowns of silk." 

The costume of the Undergraduates is thus described : — 

" The Nobleman has two dresses ; the first, which is worn 
in the Theatre, in processions, and on all public occasions, is 
a gown of purple damask silk, richly ornamented with gold 
lace. The second is a black silk gown, with full sleeves ; it 
has a tippet attached to the shoulders. With both these 
dresses is worn a square cap of black velvet, with a gold 
tassel. 

" The Gentleman-Commoner has two gowns, hoth of hlach 
silk ; the first, which is considered as a dress gown, although 
worn on all occasions, at pleasure, is richly ornamented with 



140 COLLEGE WORDS 

tassels. The second, or undress gown, is ornamented with 
plaits at the sleeves. A square black velvet cap with a silk 
tassel, is worn with both. 

"The dress of Commoners is a gown of black prince's 
stuff, without sleeves ; from each shoulder is appended a 
broad strip, which reaches to the bottom of the dress, and 
towards the top is gathered into plaits. Square cap of black 
cloth and silk tassel. 

"The student in Civil Law, or Civilian, wears a plain 
black silk gown, and square cloth cap, with silk tassel. 

" Scholars and Demies of Magdalene, and students of 
Christ Church who have not taken a degree, wear a plain 
black gown of prince's stuff, with round, full sleeves half 
the length of the gown, and a square black cap, with si]k 
tassel. 

" The dress of the Servitor is the same as that of the Com- 
moner, but it has no plaits at the shoulder, and the cap is 
without a tassel." 

The costume of those among the University Officers who 
are distinguished by their dress, may be thus noted : — 

" The dress of the Chancellor is of black damask silk, 
richly ornamented with gold embroidery, a rich lace band, and 
square velvet cap, with a large gold tassel. 

" The Proctors wear gowns of prince's stuff, the sleeves 
and facings of black velvet ; to the left shoulder is affixed a 
small tippet. To this is added, as a dress, a large ermine 
hood. 

" The Pro-Proctor wears a Master of Arts' gown, faced 
with velvet, with a tippet attached to the left shoulder." 

The Collectors wear the same dress as the Proctors, with 
the exception of the hood and tippet. 

The Esquire Bedels wear silk gowns, similar to those of 
Bachelors of Law, and round velvet caps. The Yeoman 
Bedels have black stuff gowns, and round silk caps. 

The dress of the Verger is nearly the same as that of the 
Yeoman Bedel. 

" Bands at the neck are considered as necessary appen- 



AND CUSTOMS. 141 

dages to the academic dress, particularly on all public occa- 
sions." — Guide to Oxford. 
See Drp:ss. 
COURTS. At the English universities, the squares or acres 
into which each college is divided. Called also quadrangles, 
abbreviated quads. 

All the colleges are constructed in quadrangles or courts; and, 
as in course of years the population of every college, except one,* 
has outgrown the original quadrangle, new courts have been added, 
so that the larger foundations have three, and onef has four courts. 

— BrislecVs Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 2. 

CRACKLING. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., in 
common parlance, the three stripes of velvet which a member 
of St. John's College wears on his sleeve, are designated by 
this name. 

Various other gowns are to be discerned, the Pembroke looped 
at the sleeve, the Christ's and Catherine curiously crimped in front, 
and the Johnlan with its unmistakable " Crackling." — Bristed's 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 73. 

CRAM. To prepare a student to pass an examination ; to 
study in view of examination. In the latter sense used in 
American colleges. 

In the latter [Euclid] it is hardly possible, at least not near so 
easy as in Logic, to present the semblance of preparation by learn- 
ing questions and answers by rote : — in the cant phrase of under- 
graduates, by getting crammed. — Wliaiely's Logic, Preface. 
For many weeks he " craws " him, — daily does he reliearse. 
Poem before the ladma of Harv. Coll., 1850. 

A class of men arose Avhose business was to cram the candidates. 

— Lit. World, Vol. XII. p. 24G. 

In a wider sense, to prepare another, or one's selfj by study, 
for any occasion. 

The members of the bar were lounging about that tabooed pre- 
cinct, some smoking, some talking and laughing, some poring over 
long, ill-written papers or large calf-bound books, and all big with 

* Downing College. t St. John's College. 



142 COLLEGE WORDS 

the ponderous interests depending upon them, and the eloquence 
and learning with which they were " crammed " for the occasion. — 
Talbot and Vernon. 

When he was to write, it was necessary to cram him with the 
facts and points. — F. K. Hunt's Fourth Estate, 1850. 

CRAM. All miscellaneous information about Ancient History, 
Geography, Antiquities, Law, &c. ; all classical matter not 
included under the heads of Translation and Composition, 
which can be learned by Cramming. Peculiar to the Eng- 
lish Universities. — Bristed. 

2. The same as Cramming, ivhich see. 

I have made him promise to giA^e me four or five evenings of 
about half an hour's cram each. — Collegian's Guide, p. 240. 

It is not necessary to practise " cram " so outrageously as at some 
of the college examinations. — Westminster Rev., Am. ed., Vol. 
XXXV. p. 237. 

3. A paper on which is written something necessary to be 
learned, previous to an examination. 

" Take care what you light your cigars with," said Belton, 
"you'll be burning some of Tufton's crams: they are stuck all 
about the pictures." — Collegian's Guide, p. 223. 

He puzzled himself with his crams he had in his pocket, and 
copied what he did not understand. — lUd., p. 279. 

CRAMBAMBULI. A favorite drink among the students in 
the German universities, composed of burnt rum and sugar. 

(£v<imbamt)uU, t)a£? ij^ feer Xitet 
Se^ Xvanf^, t>ei' ftc(; bd xxw^ h^^X)U)xi. 

Drinking song. 
To the next ! let 's have the cramhamhuU first, however. — Yale 
Lit. Mag., Vol. XII. p. 117. 

CRAM BOOK. A book in which are laid down such topics 
as constitute an examination, together with the requisite an- 
swers to the questions proposed on that occasion. 

He in consequence engages a private tutor, and buys all the cram 
hooks pubhshed for the occasion. — Gradus ad Cantab., p. 128. 

CRAIMINATION. A farcical word, signifying the same as 
cramming ; the teriiiination tion being suffixed for the sake 
of mock dignity. 



AND CUSTOMS. 143 

The scholarship is awarded to the student in each Senior 

Class who attends most to cramination on the College course. — 
Burlesque Catalogue, Yale Coll, 1852-53, p. 28. 

CRAM MAN. One who is cramming for an examination. 

He has read all the black-lettered divinity in the Bodleian, and 
says that none of the cram men shall have a chance with him. — 
Collegian's Guide, p. 274. 
CRAMMER. One who prepares another for an examination. 

The qualifications of a crammer are given in the following 
extract from the Collegian's Guide. 

" The first point, therefore, in which a crammer differs from 
other tutors, is in the selection of subjects. While another tutor 
would teach every part of the books given up, he virtually re- 
duces their quantity, dwelling chiefly on the ' likely parts.' 

" The second point in which a crammer excels is in fixing 
the attention, and reducing subjects to the comprehension of 
ill-formed and undisciplined minds. 

" The third qualification of a crammer is a happy manner 
and address, to encourage the desponding, to animate the idle, 
and to make the exertions of the pupil continually increase in 
such a ratio, that he shall be wound up to concert pitch by the 
day of entering the schools." — pp. 231, 232. 
CRAMMING. A cant term, in the British universities, for the 
act of preparing a student to pass an examination, by going 
over the topics with him beforehand, and furnishing him with 
the requisite answers. — Webster. 

The author of the Collegian's Guide, speaking of examina- 
tions, says : " First, we must observe that all examinations 
imply the existence of examiners, and examiners, like other 
mortal beings, lie open to the frauds of designing men, through 
the uniformity and sameness of their proceedings. This uni- 
formity inventive men have analyzed and reduced to a system, 
founding thereon a certain science, and corresponding art, 
called Cramming.''' — p. 229. 

The power of " cramming " — of filling the mind with knowledge 
hastily acquired for a particular occasion, and to be forgotten when 
that occasion is past — is a power not to be despised, and of much 



144 COLLEGE WORDS 

use in the world, especially at the bar. — Westminster Rev., Am. ed., 
VoLXXXV. p. 237. 

I shall never forget the torment I suffered in cramming long les- 
sons in Greek Grammar. — Dickens's Houselwld Words, "Vol. I. 
p. 192. 
CRAM PAPER. A paper in which are inserted such ques- 
tions as are generally asked at an examination. The manner 
in which these questions are obtained is explained in the fol- 
lowing extract. " Every pupil, after his examination, comes 
to thank him as a matter of course ; and as every man, you 
know, is loquacious enough on such occasions, Tufton gets 
out of him all the questions he was asked in the schools ; and 
according to these questions, he has moulded his cram pa- 
pers^ — Collegians Guide, p. 239. 

We should be puzzled to find any questions more absurd and un- 
reasonable than those in the cram papers in the college examina- 
tion. — Westminster Rev., Am. ed., YoL XXXV. p. 237. 

CRIB. Probably a translation ; a pony. 

Of the " Odes and Epodes of Horace, translated literally 
and rhythmically " by W. Sewell, of Oxford, the editor of 
the Literary W^orld remarks : " Useful as a ' crih' it is also 
poetical." — VoL VIII. p. 28. 

CROW'S-FOOT. At Harvard College a badge formerly worn 
on the sleeve, resembling a crow's foot, to denote the class to^ 
which a student belongs. In the regulations passed April 29, 
1822, for establishing the style of dress among the students at 
Harvard College, we find the following. A part of the dress 
shall be " three crow's-feet, made of black silk cord, on the 
lower part of the sleeve of a Senior, two on that of a Junior, 
and one on that of a Sophomore." The Freshmen were not 
allowed to wear the crow's-foot, and the custom is now discon- 
tinued, although an unsuccessful attempt was made to revive 
it a few years ago. 

The Freshman scampers off at the first bell for the chapel, where, 
finding no brother student of a higher class to encourage his punc- 
tuality, he crawls back to watch the starting of some one blessed 
with a croiv's-foot, to act as vanguard. — Harv. Reg., p. 377. 



AND CUSTOMS. 145 

The corded crow's-feet^ and the collar square, 
The change and chance of earthly lot must share. 

Class Poem at Harv. Coll, 1835, p. 18. 

What if the creature should arise, — 

For he was stout and tall, — 
And swallow down a Sophomore, 

Coat, crow's-foot, cap, and all. 

Holmes's Poems, 1850, p. 109. 

CUE. \ A small portion of bread or beer ; a term formerly 
KUE. > current in both the English universities, the letter q 
Q. ) being the mark in the buttery books to denote such a 
piece. Q would seem to stand for quadrans, a farthing ; but 
Minsheu says it was only half that sum, and thus particularly 
explains it : " Because they set down in the battling or but- 
terie bookes in Oxford and Cambridge, the letter q for half a 
farthing ; and in Oxford when they make that cue or q a far- 
thing, they say, cap my q, and make it a farthing, thus, \. 
But in Cambridge they use this letter, a little f ; thus, f, or 
thus, s, for a farthing." He translates it in Latin calculus 
panis» Coles has, " A cue [half a farthing] minutum." — 
JSfares's Glossary. 

" A cue of bread," says Halliwell, " is the fourth part of 
a half-penny crust. A cue of beer, one draught." 

J. Woods, under-butler of Christ Church, Oxon, said he would 
never sitt capping of cues. — Urry's MS. add. to Eay. 

You are still at Cambridge with size hue. — Orig. of Dr., III. p. 271. 

He never drank above size q of Helicon. — Eacliard, Contempt 
of CI, p. 26. 

" Cues and cees,'' says Nares, " are generally mentioned 
together, the cee meaning a small measure of beer ; but why, 
is not equally explained." From certain passages in which 
they are used interchangeably, the terms do not seem to have 
been well defined. 

Hee [the college butler] domineers over freshmen, when they 
first come to the hatch, and puzzles them with strange language of 
cues and cees, and some broken Latin, which he has learnt at his 
bin. — Earle's Mlci^o-cosmor/rapltie, (1G28,) Char. 17, 
13 



146 COLLEGE WORDS 

The word cue was formerly used at Harvard College. Dr. 
Holyoke, who graduated in 1746, says, the " breakfast was 
two sizings of bread and a cue of beer." Judge Wingate, 
who graduated thu-teen years after, says : "We were allowed 
at dinner a cue of beer, which was a half-pint." 

It is amusing to see, term after term, and year after year, the 
formal votes, passed by this venerable body of seven ruling and 
teaching elders, regulating the price at which a cue (a half-pint) of 
cider, or a sizing (ration) of bread, or beef, might be sold to the 
student by the butler. — Eliot's Sketch of Hist. Harv. Coll., p. 70. 

CUP. Among the English Cantabs, " an odious mixture 

compounded of spice and cider." — Westminster Rev., Am. 
ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 239. 
CURL. In the University of Virginia, to make a perfect reci- 
tation ; to overwhelm a Professor with student learning. 
CUT. To be absent from ; to neglect. Thus, a person is said 
to "cw^ prayers," to "cm^ lecture," &c. Also, to ^^ciit Greek" 
or " Latin " ; i. e. to be absent from the Greek or Latin reci- 
tation. Another use of the word is, when one says, " I cut 

Dr. B , or Prof C , this morning," meaning that he 

was absent from their exercises. 

Prepare to cut recitations, cut prayers, cut lectures, — ay, to cut 
even the President himself — Oration before H. L. of L 0. of 0. F., 
1848. 

Next morn he cuts his maiden prayer, to his last night's text abid- 
ing.— Pom before Y. H. of Harv. Coll., 1849. 
As soon as we were Seniors, 

We cut the morning prayers, 
We showed the Freshmen to the door. 
And helped them down the stairs. 

Presentation Bay Songs, June 15, 1854. 
We speak not of individuals but of majorities, not of him whose 
ambition is to " cut " prayers and recitations so far as possible. — 
Williams Quarterly, Vol. 11. p. 15. 

The two rudimentary lectures which he was at first forced to at- 
tend, are now pressed less earnestly upon his notice. In fact, he 
can almost entirely "cwi" them, if he likes, and does cut them 
accordingly, as a waste of time. — HouseJiold Words, Vol, 11, 
p. 160. 



AND CUSTOMS. 147 

To cut dead, in student use, to neglect entirely. 
I cut the Algebra and Trigonometry papers dead my first year, 
and came out seventh. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 51. 

This word is much used in the University of Cambridge, 
England, as appears from the following extract from a letter 
in the Gentleman's Magazine, written with reference to some 
of the customs there observed : — "I remarked, also, that 
they frequently used the words to cut, and to sport, in senses 
to me totally unintelligible. A man had been cut in chapel, 
cut at afternoon lectures, cut in his tutor's rooms, cut at a con- 
cert, cut at a ball, &c. Soon, however, I was told of men, 
vice versa, who cut a figure, cut chapel, cut gates, cut lectures, 
cut hall, cut examinations, cut particular connections; nay, 
more, I was informed of some who cut their tutors ! " — Gent. 
Mag,, 1794, p. 1085. 

The instances in which the verb to cut is used in the above 
extract without Italics, are now very common both in Eng- 
land and America. 

To cut Gates. To enter college after ten o'clock, — the 
hour of shutting them. — Gradus ad Cantab., p. 40. 
CUT. An omission of a recitation. This phrase is frequently 
heard : " We had a cut to-day in Greek," i. e. no recitation 

in Greek. Again, " Prof. D gave us a cut," i. e. he had 

no recitation. A correspondent from Bowdoin College gives, 
in the following sentence, the manner in which this word is 
there used : — " Outs. When a class for any reason become 
dissatisfied with one of the Faculty, they absent themselves 
from his recitation, as an expression of their feelings " 



148 COLLEGE WORDS 



D. 



D. C. L. An abbreviation for Doctor Givilis Legis, Doctor in 
Civil Law. At the University of Oxford, England, this de- 
gree is conferred four years after receiving the degree of 
B. C. L. The exercises are three lectures. In the Univer- 
sity of Cambridge, England, a D. C. L. must be a B. C. L. 
of five years' standing, or an M. A. of seven years' standing, 
and must have kept two acts. 

D. D. An abbreviation of Divinitatis Doctor, Doctor in Di- 
vinity. At the University of Cambridge, England, this 
degree is conferred on a B. D. of five, or an M. A. of twelve 
years' standing. The exercises are one act, two opponencies, 
a clerum, and an English sermon. At Oxford it is given to 
a B. D. of four, or a regent M. A. of eleven years' standing. 
The exercises are three lectures. In American colleges this 
degree is honorary, and is conferred pro meritis on those who 
are distinguished as theologians. 

DEAD. To be unable to recite ; to be ignorant of the lesson ; 
to declare one's self unprepared to recite. 

Be ready, in fine, to cut, to drink, to smoke, to dead. — Oration 
lefore H. L. of I. 0. of 0. F., 1848. 

I see our -sYhole lodge desperately striving to dead, by doing that 
hardest of all work, nothing. — Ibid., 1849. 

Transitively ; to cause one to fail in reciting. Said of a 
teacher who puzzles a scholar with difficult questions, and 
thereby causes him to fail. 

Have I been screwed, yea, deaded morn and eve, 
Some dozen moons of this collegiate life. 
And not yet taught me to philosophize ? 

Harvardiana, Vol. HI. p. 255. 

DEAD. A complete failure ; a declaration that one is not pre- 
pared to recite. 

One must stand up in the singleness of his ignorance to under- 
stand all the mysterious feehngs connected with a dead. — Harv. 
Jiefj., p. 378. 



AND CUSTOMS. 149 

And fearful of the morrow's screw or dead, 
Takes book and candle underneath his bed. 

Class Poem, by B. D. Wlnslow, at Harv. Coll., 1835, p. 10. 
He, unmoved by Freshman's curses. 
Loves the deads which Freshmen make. — MS. Poem. 
But oh ! what aching heads had they ! 
What deads they perpetrated the succeeding day. — Ihid. 

It was formerly customary in many colleges, and is now in 
a few, to talk about " taking a dead." 

I have a most instinctive dread 
Of getting up to take a dead. 
Unworthy degradation ! — Harv. Reg., p. 312. 

DEAD-SET. The same as a Dead, which see. 
Now 's the day and now 's the hour ; 
See approach Old Sikes's power ; 
See the front of Logic lower ; 

Screv/s, dead-sets, and fines. — RebelUad, p. 52. 

Grose has this word in his Slang Dictionary, and defines 
it "a concerted scheme to defraud a person by gaming." 
" This phrase," says Bartlett, in his Dictionary of American- 
isms, " seems to be taken from the lifeless attitude of a point- 
er in marking his game." 

" The lifeless attitude " seems to be the only point of re- 
semblance between the above definitions, and the appearance 
of one who is taking a dead set. The word has of late years 
been displaced by the more general use of the word dead, 
with the same meaning. 

The phrase to he at a dead-set, implying a fixed state or 
condition which precludes further progress, is in general use. 
DEAN. An officer in each college of the universities in Eng- 
land, whose duties consist in the due preservation of the col- 
lege discipline. 

" Old Holingshed," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, " in 
his Chronicles, describing Cambridge, speaks of ' certain cen- 
sors, or ^deanes, appointed to looke to the behaviour and man- 
ner of the Students there, whom they punish veri/ severely/, if 
they make any default, according to the quantitye and quali- 
13* 



150 COLLEGE WORDS 

tye of their trespasses.' When flagellation was enforced at 
the universities, the Deans were the ministers of vengeance." 

At the present time, a person applying for admission to a 
college in the University of Cambridge, Eng., is examined by 
the Dean and the Head Lecturer. " The Dean is the pre- 
siding officer in chapel, and the only one whose presence 
there is indispensable. He oversees the markers' lists, pulls 
up the absentees, and receives their excuses. This office is 
no sinecure in a large college." At Oxford " the discipline of 
a college is administered by its head, and by an officer usual- 
ly called Dean, though, in some colleges, known by other 
names." — Bristed^s Five Tears in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, 
pp. 12, 16. Literary World, Vol. XH. p. 223. 

In the older American colleges, whipping and cuffing were 
inflicted by a tutor, professor, or president ; the latter, how- 
ever, usually employed an agent for this purpose. 

See under Corporal Punishment. 

2. In the United States, a registrar of the faculty in some 
colleges, and especially in medical institutions. — Webster. 

A dean may also be appointed by the Faculty of each Profes- 
sional School, if deemed expedient by the Corporation. — Laws 
Univ. at Cam., Mass., 1848, p. 8. 

3. The head or president of a college. 

You rarely find yourself in a shop, or other place of public re- 
sort, with a Christ-Church-man, but he takes occasion, if young and 
frivolous, to talk loudly of the Dean, as an indirect expression of 
his own connection with this splendid college ; the title of Dean 
being exclusively attached to the headship of Christ Church. — 
De Quincey's Life and Manners, p. 245. 

DEAN OF CONVOCATION. At Trinity College, Hart- 
ford, this officer presides in the House of Convocation, and is 
elected by the same, biennially. — Calendar Trin. Coll., 1850, 
p. 7. 

DEAN'S BOUNTY. In 1730, the Pev. Dr. George Berke- 
ley, then Dean of Derry, in Ireland, came to America, and 
resided a year or two at Newport, Rhode Island, "where," 
says Clap, in his History of Yale College, " he purchased a 



AND CUSTOMS. 151 

country seat, with about ninety-six acres of land." On his re- 
turn to London, in 1733, he sent a deed of his farm in Rhode 
Island to Yale College, in which it was ordered, '' that the 
rents of the farm should be appropriated to the maintenance 
of the three best scholars in Greek and Latin, who should 
reside at College at least nine months in a year, in each of 
the three years between their first and second degrees." 
President Clap further remarks, that " this premium has 
been a great incitement to a laudable ambition to excel in 
the knowledge of the classics." It was commonly known as 
the Dean's bounty. — Glap''s Hist, of Yale Coll., pp. 37, 38. 

The Dean afterwards conveyed to it [Yale College], by a deed 
transmitted to Dr. Johnson, his Rhode Island farm, for the estab- 
lishment of that Dean's bounty, to which sound classical learning in 
Connecticut has been much indebted. — Hist. Sketch of Columbia 
Coll., p. 19. 
DEAN SCHOLAR. The person who received the money 
appropriated by Dean Berkeley was called the Dean scholar. 

This premium was formerly called the Dean's bounty, and the 
person who received it the Dean scholar. — Sketches of Yale Coll., 
p. 87. 

DECENT. Tolerable ; pretty good. He is a decent scholar ; 
a decent writer ; he is nothing more than decent. " This 
word," says Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, " has been in 
common use at some of our colleges, but only in the language 
of conversation. The adverb decently (and possibly the ad- 
jective also) is sometimes used in a similar manner in some 
parts of Great Britain." 

The greater part of the pieces it contains may be said to be very 
decently written. — Edinb. Rev., Vol. I. p. 426. 

DECLAMATION. The word is appHed especially to the 
public speaking and speeches of students in colleges, prac- 
tised for exercises in oratory. — Webster. 

It would appear by the following extract from the old laws 
of Harvard College, that original declamations were formerly 
required of the students. " The Undergraduates shall in their 
course declaim publicly in the hall, in one of the three learned 



152 COLLEGE WORDS 

languages ; and in no other without leave or direction from 
the President, and immediately give up their declamations 
fairly written to the President. And he that neglects this 
exercise shall be punished by the President or Tutor that 
calls over the weekly bill, not exceeding five shillings. And 
such delinquent shall within one week after give in to the 
President a written declamation subscribed by himself." — 
Laws 1734, in Peircis Hist. Harv. Univ., App., p. 129. 

2. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., an essay upon a 
given subject, written in view of a prize, and pubHcly recited 
in the chapel of the college to which the writer belongs. 

DECLAMATION BOARDS. At Bowdom College, small 
estabhshments in the rear of each building, for urinary pur- 
poses. 

DEDUCTION. In some of the American colleges, one of the 
minor punishments for non-conformity with laws and regula- 
tions is deducting from the marks which a student r-eceives 
for recitations and other exercises, and by which his standing 
in the class is determined. 

Soften down the intense feehng with which he relates heroic 
Eapid's deductions. — Harv. Mag., Vol. I. p. 267. 

2. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., an original prop- 
osition in geometry. 

" How much Euchd did you do ? Fifteen ? " 

"No, fourteen; one of them was a deduction." — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 75. 

With a mathematical tutor, the hour of tuition is a sort of famil- 
iar examination, working out examples, deductions, &c. — Ibid., 
pp. 18, 19. 

DEGRADATION. In the older American colleges, it was 
formerly customary to arrange the members of each class in 
an order determined by the rank of the parent. " Degrada- 
tion consisted in placing a student on the list, in consequence 
of some offence, below the level to which his father's con- 
dition would assign him ; and thus declared that he had dis- 
graced his family." 



AND CUSTOMS. 



153 



In the Immediate Government. Book, No. IV., of Harvard 
College, date July 20tli, 1776, is the following entry: "Voted, 
that Trumbal, a Middle Bachelor, who was degraded to the 
bottom of his class for his misdemeanors when an undergrad- 
uate, having presented an humble confession of his faults, 
with a petition to be restored to his place in the class in the 
Catalogue now printing, be restored agreeable to his request." 
The Triennial Catalogue for that year was the first in which 
the names of the students appeared in an alphabetical order. 
The class of 1773 was the first in which the change was 
made. 

" The punishment of degradation," says President "Wool- 
sey, in his Historical Discourse before the Graduates of Yale 
College, " laid aside not very long before the beginning of the 
Revolutionary war, was still more characteristic of the times. 
It was a method of acting upon the aristocratic feelings of 
family ; and we at this day can hardly conceive to what ex- 
tent the social distinctions were then acknowledged and cher- 
ished. In the manuscript laws of the infant College, we find 
the following regulation, which was borrowed from an early 
ordinance of Harvard under President Dunster. ' Every 
student shall be called by his surname, except he be the son 
of a nobleman, or a knight's eldest son.' I know not whether 
such a ' rara avis in terris ' ever received the honors of the 
College ; but a kind of colonial, untitled aristocracy grew up, 
composed of the families of chief magistrates, and of other 
civilians and ministers. In the second year of college life, 
precedency according to the aristocratic scale was determined, 
and the arrangement of names on the class roll was in accord- 
ance. This appears on our Triennial Catalogue until 1768, 
when the minds of men began to be imbued with the notion 
of equality. Thus, for instance, Gurdon Saltonstall, son of 
the Governor of that name, and descendant of Sir Richard, 
the first emigrant of the family, heads the class of 1725, and 
names of the same stock begin the lists of 1752 and 1756. 
It must have been a pretty delicate matter to decide prece- 
dence in a multitude of cases, as in that of the sons of mem- 



154 COLLEGE WORDS 

bers of the Council or of ministers, to which class many of 
the scholars belonged. The story used to circulate, as I dare 
say many of the older graduates remember, that a shoe- 
maker's son, being questioned as to the quality of his father, 
replied, that he was upon the bench, which gave him, of course, 
a high place." — pp. 48, 49. 
See under Place. 

DEGRADE. At the English universities to go back a year. 
" '■Degrading^ or going back a year," says Bristed, "is 
not allowed except in case of illness (proved by a doctor's 
certificate). A man degrading for any other reason cannot 
go out afterwards in honors." — Five Tears in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 98. 

I could clioose the year below without formally degrading. — 
lUd., p. 157. 

DEGREE. A mark of distinction conferred on students, as a 
testimony of their proficiency in arts and sciences.; giving 
them a kind of rank, and entitling them to certain privileges. 
This is usually evidenced by a diploma. Degrees are con- 
ferred pro meritis on the alumni of a college ; or they are 
honorary tokens of respect, conferred on strangers of distin- 
guished reputation. The first degree is that of Bachelor of 
Arts ; the second, that of Master of Arts. Honorary degrees 
are those oi Doctor of Divinity, Doctor of Laws, &c. Phy- 
sicians, also, receive the degree of Doctor of Medicine. — 
Webster. 

DEGREE EXAMINATION. At the EngHsh universities, 
the final university examination, which must be passed before 
the B. A. degree is conferred. 

The Classical Tripos is generally spoken of as the Tripos, the 
Mathematical one as the Degree Examination. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 170. 

DELTA. . A piece of land in Cambridge, which belongs to 
Harvard College, where the students kick football, and play 
at cricket, and other games. The shape of the land is that 
of the Greek A, whence its name. 



AND CUSTOMS. 155 

What was unmeetest of all, timid strangers as we were, it was 
expected on the first Monday eventide after our arrival, that we 
should assemble on a neighboring green, the Delta, since devoted 
to the purposes of a gymnasium, there to engage in a furious con- 
test with those enemies, the Sophs, at kicking football and shins. — 
A Tour through College, 1823-1827, p. 13. 

Where are the royal cricket-matches of old, the great games of 
football, when the obtaining of victory was a point of honor, and 
crowds assembled on the Delia to witness the all-absorbing contest ? 
— Harvardiana, "Vol. I. p. 107. 

I must have another pair of pantaloons soon, for I have burst the 
knees of two, in kicking football on the Delta. — Ibid., Vol. III. 
p. 77. 

The Delta can tell of the deeds we 've done, 
The fierce-fought fields we 've lost and won, 
The shins we 've cracked, 
And noses we 've whacked, 
The eyes we 've blacked, and all in fun. 

Class Poem, 1849, Harv. Coll. 

A plat at Bowdoin College, of this shape, and used for 
similar purposes, is known by the same name. 
DEMI, ) The name of a scholar at Magdalene College, Ox- 
DEMY. ) ford, where there are thirty demies or half-fellows, 
as it were, who, like scholars in other colleges, succeed to 
fellowships. — Johnson. 
DEN. One of the buildings formerly attached to Harvard 
College, which was taken down in the year 1846, was for 
more than a half-century known by the name of the De7i. 
It was occupied by students during the greater part of that 
period, although it was originally built for private use. In 
later years, from its appearance, both externally and inter- 
nally, it fully merited its cognomen ; but this is supposed to 
have originated from the following incident, which occurred 
within its walls about the year 1770, the time when it was 
built. The north portion of the house was occupied by Mr. 
Wiswal (to whom it belonged) and his family. His wife, 
who was then ill, and, as it afterwards proved, fatally, was 
attended by a woman who did not bear a very good charac- 



156 COLLEGE VfORDS 

ter, to whom Mr. Wiswal seemed to be more attentive than 
was consistent with the character of a true and loving hus- 
band. About six weeks after Mrs. Wiswal's death, Mr. Wis- 
wal espoused the nurse, which circumstance gave great offence 
to the good people of Cambridge, and was the cause of much 
scandal among the gossips. One Sunday, not long after this 
second marriage, Mr. Wiswal having gone to church, his wife, 
who did not accompany him, began an examination of her 
predecessor's wardrobe and possessions, with the intention, as 
was supposed, of appropriating to herself whatever had been 
left by the former Mrs. Wiswal to her children. On his return 
from church, Mr. Wiswal, missing his w^ife, after searching 
for some time, found her at last in the kitchen, convulsively 
clutching the dresser, her eyes staring wildly, she herself 
being unable to speak. In this state of insensibility she 
remained until her decease, which occurred shortly after. 
Although it was evident that she had been seized with con- 
vulsions, and that these were the cause of her death, the old 
women M'ere careful to promulgate, and their daughters to 
transmit the story, that the Devil had appeared to her in pro- 
pria persona, and shaken her in pieces, as a punishment for 
her crimes. The building was purchased by Harvard Col- 
lege in the year 1774. 

In the Federal Orrery, March 26, 1795, is an article dated 
Wiswal-Den, Cambridge, which title it also bore, from the 
name of its former occupant. 

In his address spoken at the Harvard Alumni Festival, 
July 22, 1852, Hon. Edward Everett, with reference to this 
mysterious building as it appeared in the year 1807, said : — 

"A little further to the north, and just at the corner of 
Church Street (which was not then opened), stood what was 
dignified in the annual College Catalogue — (which was 
printed on one side of a sheet of paper, and was a novelty) 
— as ' the College House.' The cellar is still visible. By 
the students, this edifice was disrespectfully called * Wiswal's 
Den,' or, for brevity, ' the Den.' I lived in it in my Fresh- 
man year. Whence the name of ' Wiswal's Den ' I hardly 



AND CUSTOMS. 157 

dare say : there was something worse than ' old fogy ' about 
it. There was a dismal tradition that, at some former period, 
it had been the scene of a murder. A brutal husband had 
dragged his wife by the hair up and down the stairs, and then 
killed her. On the anniversary of the murder, — and what 
day that was no one knew, — there were sights and sounds, — 
flitting garments daggled in blood, plaintive screams, — stridor 
ferri tractceque catence, — enough to appall the stoutest Sopho- 
more. But for myself, I can truly say, that I got through 
my Freshman year without having seen the ghost of Mr. Wis- 
wal or his lamented lady. I was not, however, sorry when 
the twelvemonth was up, and I was transferred to that light, 
airy, well-ventilated room, No. 20 Hollis ; being the inner 
room, ground floor, north entry of that ancient and respecta- 
ble edifice." — To-Day, Boston, Saturday, July 31, 1852, 
p. 66. 

Many years ago there emigrated to this University, from the 
■wilds of New Hampshire, an odd genius, by the name of Jedediah 
Croak, who took up his abode as a student in the old Den. — Har- 
vard Register, 1827 - 28, ^ Legend of the Den, pp. 82-86. 

DEPOSITION. During the first half of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, in the majority of the German universities. Catholic as 
well as Protestant, the matriculation of a student was pre- 
ceded by a ceremony called the deposition. See Howitt^s 
Student Life in Germany, Am. ed., pp. 119-121. 

DESCEND AS. Latin; literally, you may descend. At the 
University of Cambridge, Eng., when a student who has been 
appointed to declaim in chapel fails in eloquence, memory, or 
taste, his harangue is usually cut short " by a testy descen- 
das." — Grad. ad Cantab. 

DETERMINING. In the University of Oxford, a Bachelor 
is entitled to his degree of M. A. twelve terms after the regu- 
lar time for taking his first degree, having previously gone 
through the ceremony of determining, which exercise consists 
in reading two dissertations in Latin prose, or one in prose 
and a copy of Latin verses. As this takes place in Lent, it 
is commonly called determining in Lent. — Oxf. Guide. 
14 



158 COLLEGE WORDS 

BETUR. Latin ; literally, let it he given. 

In 1657, the Hon. Edward Hopkins, dying, left, among 
other donations to Harvard College, one " to be applied to 
the purchase of books for presents to meritorious undergradu- 
ates." The distribution of these books is made, at the com- 
mencement of each academic year, to students of the Sopho- 
more Class who have made meritorious progress in their 
studies during their Freshman year ; also, as far as the state 
of the funds admits, to those members of the Junior Class 
who entered as Sophomores, and have made meritorious 
progress in their studies during the Sophomore year, and to 
such Juniors as, having failed to receive a detur at the com- 
mencement of the Sophomore year, have, during that year, 
made decided improvement in scholarship. — Laws of Univ. 
at Cam., Mass., 1848, p. 18. 

"From the first word in the short Latin label," Peirce 
says, " which is signed by the President, and attached to the 
inside of the cover, a book presented from this fund is famil- 
iarly called a DeturT — Hist. Harv. Univ., p. 103. 

Now for my books ; first Bunyan's Pilgrim, 
(As he with thankful pleasure will grin,) 
Tho' dogleaved, torn, in bad type set in, 

'T will do quite well for classmate B , 

And thus with complaisance to treat her, 
'T will answer for another Detur. 

The Will of Charles Prentiss. 
Be not, then, painfully anxious about the Greek particles, and sit 
not up all night lest you should miss prayers, only that you may 
have a " Detur" and be chosen into the Phi Beta Kappa among 
the first eight. Get a " Detur " by all means, and the square medal 
with its cabalistic signs, the sooner the better ; but do not " stoop 
and lie in wait " for them. — A Letter to a Young Man who has just 
entered College, 1849, p. 36. 
Or yet, — though 't were incredible, — say hast obtained a detur ? 

Poem before ladma, 1850. 

DIG. To study hard ; to spend much time in studying. 
Another, in his study chair. 
Digs up Greek roots with learned care, — 

Unpalatable eating. — Harv. Reg., 1827 - 28, p. 247. 



AND CUSTOMS. 159 

Here the sunken eye and sallow countenance bespoke the man 
who dug sixteen hours " per diem." — lUd., p. 303. 

Some have gone to lounge away an hour in the libraries, — some 
to ditto in the grove, — some to dig upon the afternoon lesson. — 
Amherst Indicator^ Yol. I. p. 77. 

DIG. A diligent student ; one who learns his lessons by hard 
and long-continued exertion. 

A clever soul is one, I say, 
Who wears a laughing face all day, 
Who never misses declamation, 
Nor cuts a stupid recitation, 
And yet is no elaborate dig, 
Nor for rank systems cares a fig. 

Harvardiana, Vol. in. p. 283. 
I could see, in the long vista of the past, the many honest digs 
who had in this room consumed the midnight oil. — Collegian, 
p. 231. 

And, truly, the picture of a college " dig " taking a walk — no, 
I say not so, for he never " takes a walk," but " walking for exer- 
cise" — justifies the contemptuous estimate. — A Letter to a Young 
Man who has Just entered College, 1849, p. 14. 

He is just the character to enjoy the treadmill, which perhaps 
might be a useful appendage to a college, not as a punishment, but 
as a recreation for " digs" — Ibid., p. 14. 

Resolves that he will be, in spite of toil or of fatigue, 
That humbug of all humbugs, the staid, inveterate " dig." 

Poem before ladma of Harv. Coll., 1850. 
There goes the dig, just look ! 
How like a parson he eyes his book ! 

The Jobsiad, in Lit. World, Oct. 11, 1851. 
The fact that I am thus getting the character of a man of no 
talent, and a mere " dig," does, I confess, weigh down my spirits. — 
Amherst Indicator, Vol. I. p. 224. 

By this 't is that we get ahead of the Dig, 

'T is not we that prevail, but the wine that we swig. 

Ibid., Vol. n. p. 252. 

DIGGING. The act of studying hard ; dihgent application. 
I find my eyes in doleful case, 

By digging until midnight. — Harv. Reg., p. 312. 



160 COLLEGE WORDS 

I 've had an ecisy time in College, and enjoyed well the " otium 
cum dignitate," — the learned leisure of a scholar's life, — always 
despised digging^ you know. — lUd., p. 194. 

How often after his day of digging, when he comes to lay his 
weary head to rest, he finds the cruel sheets giving him no admit- 
tance. — lUd., p. 377. 

Hopes to hit the mark 
By digging nightly into matters dark. 

Class Poem, Harv. Coll., 1835. 
He " makes up " for past " digging." 

ladma Poem, Harv. Coll., 1850. 

DIGNITY. At Bowdoin College, ''- Dignity,'' says a corre- 
spondent, " is the name applied to the regular holidays, vary- 
ing from one half-day per week, during the Freshman year, 
up to four in the Senior." 

DIKED. At the University of Virginia, one who is dressed 
with more than ordinary elegance is said to be diked out. 
Probably corrupted from the word decked, or the nearly ob- 
solete dig]ited» 

DIPLOMA. Greek, diTrXcona, from dnrXoco, to double or fold. 
Anciently, a letter or other composition written on paper or 
parchment, and folded ; afterward, any letter, literary monu- 
ment, or public document. A letter or writing conferring 
some power, authority, privilege, or honor. Diplomas are 
given to graduates of colleges on their receiving the usual 
degrees ; to clergymen who are licensed to exercise the min- 
isterial functions ; to physicians who are licensed to practise 
their profession ; and to agents who are authorized to trans- 
act business for their principals. A diploma, then, is a writ- 
ing or instrument, usually under seal, and signed by the 
proper person or officer, conferring merely honor, as in the 
case of graduates, or authority, as in the case of physicians, 
agents, &c. — Wehste?-. 

DISCIPLINE. The punishments which are at present gen- 
erally adopted in American colleges are warning, admonition, 
the letter home, suspension, rustication, and expulsion. For- 
merly they were more numerous, and their execution was 



AND CUSTOMS. 161 

attended with great solemnity. ." The discipHne of the Col- 
lege," says President Quincy, in his History of Harvard 
University, " was enforced and sanctioned by daily visits of 
the tutors to the chambers of the students, fines, admonitions, 
confession in the hall, publicly asking pardon, degradation to 
the bottom of the class, striking the name from the College 
list, and expulsion, according to the nature and aggravation 
of the offence." — Vol. I. p. 442. 

Of Yale College, President Woolsey in his Historical Dis- 
course says : " The old system of discipline may be de- 
scribed in general as consisting of a series of minor punish- 
ments for various petty offences, while the more extreme 
measure of separating a student from College seems not to 
have been usually adopted until long forbearance had been 
found fruitless, even in cases Vv^hich would now be visited in 
all American colleges with speedy dismission. The chief of 
these punishments named in the laws are imposition of school 
exercises, — of which we find little notice after the first foun- 
dation of the College, but which we beheve yet exists in the 
colleges of England ; * deprivation of the privilege of send- 
ing Freshmen upon errands, or extension of the period during 
which this servitude should be required beyond the end of the 
Freshman year ; fines either specified, of which there are a 
very great number in the earlier laws, or arbitrarily imposed 
by the officers ; admonition and degradation. For the offence 
of mischievously ringing the bell, which was very common 
whilst the beU was in an exposed situation over an entry of a 
college building, students were sometimes required to act as 
the butler's waiters in ringing the bell for a certain time." — 
pp. 46, 47. 

See under titles Admonition, Confession, Corporal 
Punishment, Degradation, Fines, Letter Home, Sus- 
pension, &c. 
DISCOMMUNE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., to 
prohibit an undergraduate from dealing with any tradesman 

* See under Imposition. 
14* 



162 COLLEGE WORDS 

or inhabitant of the town who has violated the University 
privileges or regulations. The right to exercise this power 
is vested in the Vice-Chancellor. 

Any tradesman who allows a student to run in debt with him to 
an amount exceeding $ 25, without informing his college tutor, or 
to incur any debt for wine or spirituous liquors without giving no- 
tice of it to the same functionary during the current quarter, or 
who shall take any promissory note from a student without his 
tutor's knowledge, is liable to be discommuned. — Lit. World^ "Vol. 
XII. p. 283. 

In the following extracts, this word appears under a differ- 
ent orthography. 

There is always a great demand for the rooms in college. Those 
at lodging-houses are not so good, while the rules are equally strict, 
the owners being solemnly bound to report all their lodgers who 
stay out at night, under pain of being " discommonsed" a species 
of college excommunication. — Bristed^s Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 81. 

Any tradesman bringing a suit against an Undergraduate shall be 
" discojnmonsed" ; i. e. all the Undergraduates are forbidden to deal 
with him. — Ihid., p. 83. 

This word is allied to the law term " discommon," to de- 
prive of the privileges of a place. 

DISMISS. To separate from college, for an indefinite or lim- 
ited time. 

DISMISSION. In college government, dismission is the sepa- 
ration of a student from a college, for an indefinite or for a 
limited time, at the discretion of the Faculty. It is required 
of the dismissed student, on applying for readmittance to his 
own or any other class, to furnish satisfactory testimonials of 
good conduct during his separation, and to appear, on exami- 
nation, to be well qualified for such readmission. — College 
Laws. 

In England, a student, although precluded from returning 
to the university whence he has been dismissed, is not hin- 
dered from taking a degree at some other university. 

DISPENSATION. In universities and colleges, the granting 



AND CUSTOMS. 163 

of a license, or the license itself, to do what is forbidden by 
law, or to omit something which is commanded. Also, an 
exemption from attending a college exercise. 

The business of the first of these houses, or the ohgarchal portion 
of the constitution [the House of Congregation], is chiefly to grant 
degrees, and pass graces and dispensations. — Oxford Guide, Ed. 
1847, p. xi. 

All the students who are under twenty-one years of age may be 
excused from attending the private Hebrew lectures of the Profes- 
sor, upon their producing to the President a certificate from their 
parents or guardians, desiring a dispensation. — Laws Harv. Coll.^ 
1798, p. 12. 

DISPERSE. A favorite word with tutors and proctors ; used 
when speaking to a number of students unlawfully collected. 
This technical use of the word is burlesqued in the following 
passages. 

Minerva conveys the Freshman to his room, where his cries 
make such a disturbance, that a proctor enters and commands the 
blue-eyed goddess " to disperse." This order she reluctantly obeys. 
— Harvardiana, Vol. IV. p. 23. 

And often grouping on the chains, he hums his own sweet verse, 

Till Tutor , coming up, commands him to disperse. 

Poem he/ore Y. H. Harv. Coll., 1849. 
DISPUTATION. An exercise in colleges, in which parties 
reason in opposition to each other, on some question pro- 
posed. — Webster. 

Disputations were formerly, in American colleges, a part of 
the exercises on Commencement and Exhibition days. 

DISPUTE. To contend in argument ; to reason or argue in 
opposition. — Webster. 

The two Senior classes shall dispute once or twice a week before 
the President, a Professor, or the Tutor. — Laws Yale Coll., 1837, 
p. 15. 

DIVINITY. A member of a theological school is often famil- 
iarly called a Divinity, abbreviated for a Divinity student. 
One of the young Divinities passed 
Straight through the College yard. 

Childe Harvard, p. 40. 



164 COLLEGE WORDS 

DIVISION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., each of 
the three terms is divided into two parts. Division is the 
time when this partition is made. 

After " division " in the Michaelmas and Lent terms, a student, 
who can assign a good plea for absence to the college authorities, 
may go down and take holiday for the rest of the time. — Bristed's 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 63. 

DOCTOR. One who has passed all the degrees of a faculty, 
and is empowered to practise and teach it ; as, a doctor in 
divinity, in physic, in law ; or, according to modern usage, a 
person who has received the highest degree in a faculty. 
The degree of doctor is conferred by universities and col- 
leges, as an honorary mark of literary distinction. It is also 
conferred on physicians as a professional degree. — Webster. 

DOCTORATE. The degree of a doctor. — Webster. 

The first diploma for a doctorate in divinity given in Amer- 
ica was presented under the seal of Harvard College to Mr. 
Increase Mather, the President of that institution, in the year 
1692. — Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., App., p. 68. 

DODGE. A trick ; an artifice or stratagem for the purpose of 

deception. Used often with come ; as, " to come a dodge over 
him." 

No artful dodge to leave my school could I just then prepare. 
Poem before ladma, Harv. Coll., 1850. 

Agreed; but I have another dodge as good as yours. — Colle- 
gian^ s Guide, p. 240, 

We may well admire the cleverness displayed by this would-be 
Chatterton, in his attempt to sell the unwary with an Ossian dodge. 
— Lit. World, Vol. XII. p. 191. 

DOMINUS. A title bestowed on Bachelors of Arts, in Eng- 
land. Dominus Nokes ; Dominus Stiles. — Gradus ad Can- 
tab. 

DON. In the English universities, a short generic term for a 
Fellow or any college authority. 

He had already told a lie to the Dons, by protesting against the 
justice of his sentence. — Collegian's Guide, p. 169. 



AND CUSTOMS. 165 

Never to order in any wine from an Oxford merchant, at least 
not till I am a Don.— The Etonian, Vol. 11. p. 288. 

Nor hint how Dons, their untasked hours to pass, 
Like Cato, warm their virtues with the glass.* 

The College, in Blackwood's Mag., May, 1849. 
DONKEY. At Yfashington College, Penn., students of a 
religious character are vulgarly called donkeys. 
See Lap-Ear. 
DORMIAT. Latin ; literally, let him sleep. To take out a 
dormiat, i. e. a license to sleep. The licensed person is ex- 
cused from attending early prayers in the Chapel, from a plea 
of being indisposed. Used in the English universities. — 
Gradus ad Cantab. 
DOUBLE FIRST. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a 
student who attains high honors in both the classical and 
the mathematical tripos. 

The Calendar does not show an average of two " DouUe Firsts " 
annually for the last ten years out of one hundred and thirty-eight 
graduates in Honors. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, p. 91. 

The reported saying of a distinguished judge, " that the 

standard of a Double First was getting to be something beyond 
human ability," seems hardly an exaggeration. — Ibid., p. 224. 

DOUBLE MAN. In the English universities, a student who 
is a proficient in both classics and mathematics. 

'■'■Double men," as proficients in both classics and mathematics 
are termed, are very rare. — Bristed's Five Year's in an Eng. Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 91. 

It not unfrequently happens that he now drops the intention of 
being a " double man," and concentrates himself upon mathematics. 
— Ibid., -p. 104. 

To one danger mathematicians are more exposed than either 
classical or double men, — disgust and satiety arising from exclusive 
devotion to their unattractive studies. — Ibid., p. 225. 

* " Narratur et prisci Catonis 
Saspe mere caluissc virtus." 

Horace, Ode Ad Amphoram. 



166 COLLEGE WOKDS 

DOUBLE MAEKS. It was formerly the custom in Harvard 
College with the Professors in Rhetoric, when they had ex- 
amined and corrected the themes of the students, to draw a 
straight line on the back of each one of them, under the name 
of the writer. Under the names of those whose themes were 
of more than ordinary correctness or elegance, two Hnes were 
drawn, which were called double marks. 

They would take particular pains for securing the douhle mark of 
the English Professor to their poetical compositions. — Monthly 
Antholpgij, Boston, 1804, Vol. I. p. 104. 

Many, if not the greater part of Paine's themes, were written in 
verse ; and his vanity was gratified, and his emulation roused, by 
the honor of constant double marks. — Works of R. T. Paine, Biog- 
raphy^ p. xxii., Ed. 1812. 

See Theme. 
DOUBLE SECOND. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
one who obtains a high place in the second rank, in both 
mathematical and classical honors. 

A good double second will make, by his college scholarship, two 
fifths or three fifths of his expenses during two thirds of the time 
he passes at the University. — ■ Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 427. 

DOUGH-BALL. At the Anderson Collegiate Institute, Indi- 
ana, a name given by the town's people to a student. 

DRESS. A uniformity in dress has never been so prevalent 
in American colleges as in the English and other universities. 
About the middle of the last century, however, the habit 
among the students of Harvard College of wearing gold lace 
attracted the attention of the Overseers, and a law was passed 
" requiring that on no occasion any of the scholars wear any 
gold or silver lace, or any gold or silver brocades, in the Col- 
lege or town of Cambridge," and " that no one wear any silk 
night-gowns." "In 1786," says Quincy, "in order to lessen 
the expense of dress, a uniform was prescribed, the color and 
form of which were minutely set forth, with a distinction of 
the classes by means of frogs on the cuffs and button-holes ; 
silk was prohibited, and home manufactures were recom- 



AND CUSTOMS. 167 

mended." This system of uniform is fully described in the 
laws of 1790, and is as follows : — 

" All the Undergraduates shall be clothed in coats of blue- 
gray, and with waistcoats and breeches of the same color, or 
of a black, a nankeen, or an olive color. The coats of the 
Freshmen shall have plain button-holes. The cuffs shall be 
without buttons. The coats of the Sophomores shall have 
plain button-holes like those of the Freshmen, but the cuffs 
shall have buttons. The coats of the Juniors shall have 
cheap frogs to the button-holes, except the button-holes of the 
cuffs. The coats of the Seniors shall have frogs to the but- 
ton-holes of the cuffs. The buttons upon the coats of all the 
classes shall be as near the color of the coats as they can be 
procured, or of a black color. And no student shall appear 
within the limits of the College, or town of Cambridge, in any 
other dress than in the uniform belonging to his respective 
class, unless he shall have on a night-gown or such an out- 
side garment as may be necessary over a coat, except only 
that the Seniors and Juniors are permitted to wear black 
gowns, and it is recommended that they appear in them on 
all public occasions. Nor shall any part of their garments 
be of silk ; nor shall they wear gold or silver lace, cord, or 
edging upon their hats, waistcoats, or any other parts of their 
clothing. And whosoever shall violate these regulations 
shall be fined a sum not exceeding ten shillings for each 
offence:' — Laws of Harv. Coll, 1790, pp. 36, 37. 

It is to this dress that the poet alludes in these lines : — 
" In blue-gray coat, with buttons on the cuffs, 
First Modern Pride your ear with fustian stuffs ; 
' Welcome, blest age, by holy seers foretold, 
By ancient bards proclaimed the age of gold,'" &c.* 
But it was by the would-be reformers of that day alone 
that such sentiments were held, and it was only by the sever- 
ity of the punishment attending non- conformity with these 
regulations that they were ever enforced. In 1796, "the 

* Education : a Poem before *. B. K. Soc, 1799, by William Biglow. 



168 COLLEGE AVORDS 

sumptuary law relative to dress had fallen into neglect," and 
in the next year " it was found so obnoxious and difficult to 
enforce," says Quincy, " that a law was passed abrogating 
the whole system of distinction by 'frogs on the cuffs and 
button-holes,' and the law respecting dress was limited to pre- 
scribing a blue-gray or dark-blue coat, with permission to 
wear a black gown, and a prohibition of wearing gold or sil- 
ver lace, cord, or edging." — Quincy' s Hist. Haw. Univ., 
Vol. II. p. 277. 

A writer in the New England Magazine, in an article re- 
lating to the customs of Harvard College at the close of the 
last century, gives the following description of the uniform 
ordered by the Corporation to be worn by the students : — 

" Each head supported a three-cornered cocket hat. Yes, 
gentle reader, no man or boy was considered in full dress, in 
those days, unless his pericranium was thus surmounted, with 
the forward peak directly over the right eye. Had a clergy- 
man, especially, appeared with a hat of any other form, it 
would have been deemed as great a heresy as Unitarianism 
is at the present day. Whether or not the three-cornered 
hat was considered as an emblem of Trinitarianism, I am not 
able to determine. Our hair was worn in a queue, bound 
with black ribbon, and reached to the small of the back, in 
the shape of the tail of that motherly animal which furnishes 
ungrateful bipeds of the human race with milk, butter, and 
cheese. Where nature had not bestowed a sufficiency of this 
ornamental appendage, the living and the dead contributed 
of their superfluity to supply the deficiency. Our ear-locks, 
— horresco ref evens ! — my ears tingle and my countenance is 
distorted at the recollection of the tortures inflicted on them 
by the heated curling-tongs and crimping-irons. 

" The bosoms of our shirts were ruffled with lawn or cam- 
bric, and 

' Our fingers' ends were seen to peep 
From ruffles, full five inches deep.' 

Our coats were double-breasted, and of a black or priest-gray 
color. The directions were not so particular respecting our 



AND CUSTOMS. 169 

waistcoats, breeches, — I beg pardon, — small clothes, and 
stockings. Our shoes ran to a point at the distance of two or 
three inches from the extremity of the foot, and turned up- 
ward, like the curve of a skate. Our dress was ornamented 
with shining stock, knee, and shoe buckles, the last embracing 
at least one half of the foot of ordinary dimensions. If any 
wore boots, they were made to set as closely to the leg as its 
skin ; for a handsome calf and ankle were esteemed as great 
beauties as any portion of the frame, or point in the physiog- 
nomy."— Vol. III. pp. 238, 239. 

In his late work, entitled, " Memories of Youth and Man- 
hood," Professor Sidney Willard has given an entertaining 
description of the style of dress which was in vogue at Har- 
vard College near the close of the last century, in the follow- 
ing words : — • 

" Except on special occasions, which required more than 
ordinary attention to dress, the students, when I was an 
undergraduate, were generally very careless in this partic- 
ular. They were obliged by the College laws to wear coats 
of blue-gray ; but as a substitute in warm weather, they were 
allowed to wear gowns, except on public occasions ; and on 
these occasions they were permitted to wear black gowns. 
Seldom, however, did any one avail himself of this permis- 
sion. In summer long gowns of calico or gingham were the 
covering that distinguished the collegian, not only about the 
College grounds, but in all parts of the village. Still worse, 
when the season no longer tolerated this thin outer garment, 
many adopted one much in the same shape, made of colorless 
woollen stuff called lambskin. These were worn by many 
without any under-coat in temperate weather, and in some 
cases for a length of time in which they had become sadly 
soiled. In other respects there was nothing peculiar in the 
common dress of the young men and boys of College to dis- 
tinguish it from that of others of the same age. Breeches 
were generally worn, buttoned at the knees, and tied or 
buckled a little below ; not so convenient a garment for a 
person dressing in haste as trousers or pantaloons. Often 
15 



170 COLLEGE WORDS 

did I see a fellow-student hurrying to the Chapel to escape 
tardiness at morning prayers, with this garment unbuttoned 
at the knees, the ribbons dangling over his legs, the hose 
refusing to keep their elevation, and the calico or woollen 
gown wrapped about him, ill concealing his dishabille. 

" Not all at once did pantaloons gain the supremacy as the 
nether garment. About the beginning of the present century 
they grew rapidly in favor with the young ; but men past 
middle age were more slow to adopt the change. Then, last, 
the aged very gradually were converted to the fashion by the 
plea of convenience and comfort ; so that about the close of 
the first quarter of the present century it became almost uni- 
versal. In another particular, more than half a century ago, 
the sons adopted a custom of their wiser fathers. The young 
men had for several years worn shoes and boots shaped in 
the toe part to a point, called peaked toes, while the aged 
adhered to the shape similar to the present fashion ; so that 
the shoemaker, in a doubtful case, would ask his -customer 
whether he would have square-toed or peaked-toed. The 
distinction between young and old in this fashion was so 
general, that sometimes a graceless youth, who had been 
crossed by his father or guardian in some of his unreasonable 
humors, would speak of him w^ith the title of Old Square-toes. 

" Boots with yellow tops inverted, and coming up to the 
knee-band, were commonly v/orn by men somewhat advanced 
in years ; but the younger portion more generally wore half- 
boots, as they were called, made of elastic leather, cordovan. 
These, when worn, left a space of two or three inches between 
the top of the boot and the knee-band. The great beauty of 
this fashion, as it was deemed by many, consisted in restoring 
the boots, which were stretched by drawing them on, to shape, 
and bringing them as nearly as possible into contact with the 
legs ; and he who prided himself most on the form of his lower 
limbs would work the hardest in pressure on the leather from 
the ankle upward in order to do this most effectually." — Vol. 
I. pp. 318-320. 

In 1822 was passed the " Law of Harvard University, reg- 



AND CUSTOMS. 171 

ulating the dress of the students." The established uniform 
was as follows. " The coat of black-mixed, single-breasted, 
with a rolling cape, square at the end, and with pocket flaps ; 
waist reaching to the natural waist, with lapels of the same 
length ; skirts reaching to the bend of the knee ; three crow's- 
feet, made of black-silk cord, on the lower part of the sleeve 
of a Senior, two on that of a Junior, and one on that of a 
Sophomore. The waistcoat of black-mixed or of black ; or 
when of cotton or linen fabric, of white, single-breasted, with 
a standing collar. The pantaloons of black-mixed or of black 
bombazette, or when of cotton or linen fabric, of white. The 
surtout or great coat of black-mixed, with not more than two 
capes. The buttons of the above dress must be flat, covered 
with the same cloth as that of the garments, not more than 
eight nor less than six on the front of the coat, and four be- 
hind. A surtout or outside garment is not to be substituted 
for the coat. But the students are permitted to wear black 
gowns, in which they may appear on all public occasions. 
Night-gowns, of cotton or linen or silk fabric, made in the 
usual form, or in that of a frock coat, may be worn, except on 
the Sabbath, on exhibition and other occasions when an un- 
dress would be improper. The neckcloths must be plain 
black or plain white." 

No student, while in the State of Massachusetts, was al- 
lowed, either in vacation or term time, to wear any different 
dress or ornament from those above named, except in case 
of mourning, when he could wear the customary badges. 
Although dismission was the punishment for persisting in the 
violation of these regulations, they do not appear to have been 
very well observed, and gradually, like the other laws of an 
earlier date on this subject, fell into disuse. The night-gowns 
or dressing-gowns continued to be worn at prayers and in 
public until within a few years. The black-mixed, otherwise 
called Oxford Mixed cloth, is explained under the latter 
title. 

The only law which now obtains at Harvard College on the 
subject of dress is this : " On Sabbath, Exhibition, Exami- 



172 COLLEGE WORDS 

nation, and Conunencement days, and on all other public occa- 
sions, each student, in public, shall wear a black coat, with 
buttons of the same color, and a black hat or cap." — Orders 
and Regulations of the Facidty of Harv. GolL, July, 1853, 
p. 5. 

At one period in the history of Yale College, a passion for 
expensive dress having become manifest among the students, 
the Faculty endeavored to curb it by a direct appeal to the 
dijfferent classes. The result was the establishment of the 
Lycurgan Society, whose object was the encouragement of 
plainness in apparel. The benefits which might have re- 
sulted from this organization were contravened by the rash- 
ness of some of its members. The shape which this rashness 
assumed is described in a work entitled " Scenes and Char- 
acters in College," written by a Yale graduate of the class of 
1821. 

" Some members were seized with the notion of a distinc- 
tive dress. It was strongly objected to ; but the measure was 
carried by a stroke of policy. The dress proposed was some- 
what like that of the Quakers, but less respectable, — a rustic 
cousin to it, or rather a caricature ; namely, a close coatee, with 
stand-up collar, and very short skirts, — shirtees, they might 
be called, — the color gray ; pantaloons and vest the same ; — 
making the wearer a monotonous gray man throughout, in- 
visible at twilight. The proposers of this metamorphosis, to 
make it go, selected an individual of small and agreeable 
figure, and procuring a suit of fine material, and a good fit, 
placed him on a platform as a specimen. On him it appeared 
very well, as a belted blouse does on a graceful child ; and all 
the more so, as he was a favorite with the class, and lent to 
it the additional effect of agreeable association. But it is bad 
logic to derive a general conclusion from a single fact : it did 
not follow that the dress would be universally becoming be- 
cause it was so on him. However, majorities govern ; the 
dress was voted. The tailors were glad to hear of it, expect- 
ing a fine run of business. 

" But when a tall son of Anak appeared in the little bodice of 



AND CUSTOMS. 173 

a coat, stuck upon the liips ; and still worse, when some very 
clumsy forms assumed the dress, and one in particular, that I 
remember, who was equally huge in person and coarse in 
manners, whose taste, or economy, or both, — the one as 
probably as the other, — had led him to the choice of an 
ugly pepper-and-salt, instead of the true Oxford mix, or what- 
ever the standard gray was called, and whose tailor, or tailor- 
ess, probably a tailoress, had contrived to aggravate his natu- 
ral disproportions by the most awkward fit imaginable, — 
then indeed you might have said that ' some of nature's jour- 
neymen had made men, and not made them well, they imi- 
tated humanity so abominably.' They looked like David's 
messengers, maltreated and sent back by Hanun.* 

" The consequence was, the dress was unpopular ; very few 
adopted it ; and the society itself went quietly into oblivion. 
Nevertheless it had done some good; it had had a visible 
effect in checking extravagance ; and had accomplished all it 
would have done, I imagine, had it continued longer. 

" There was a time, some three or four years previous to 
this, when a rakish fashion began to be introduced of wearing 
white-topped boots. It was a mere conceit of the wearers, 
such a fashion not existing beyond College, — except as it 
appeared in here and there an antiquated gentleman, a ven- 
erable remnant of the olden time, in whom the boots were 
matched with buckles at the knee, and a powdered queue. 
A practical satire quickly put an end to it. Some humorists 
proposed to the waiters about College to furnish them with 
such boots on condition of their wearing them. The offer 
was accepted ; a lot of them was ordered at a boot-and-shoe 
shop, and, all at once, sweepers, sawyers, and the rest, ap- 
peared in white-topped boots. I will not repeat the profane- 
ness of a Southerner when he first observed a pair of them 
upon a tall and gawky shoe-black striding across the yard. 
He cursed the * negro,* and the boots ; and, pulling off his 
own, flung them from hun. After this the servants had the 

* 2 Samuel x. 4. 
15* 



174 COLLEGE WORDS 

fashion to themselves, and could buy the article at any dis- 
count."— pp. 127-129. 

At Union College, soon after its foundation, there was 
enacted a law, " forbidding any student to appear at chapel 
without the College badge, — a piece of blue ribbon, tied in 
the button-hole of the coat." — Account of the First Semi- 
centennial Anniversary of the Philomathean Society, Union 
College, 1847. 

Such laws as the above have often been passed in Ameri- 
can colleges, but have generally fallen into disuse in a very 
few years, owing to the predominancy of the feeling of demo- 
cratic equality, the tendency of which is to narrow, in as 
great a degree as possible, the mtervals between different 
ages and conditions. 

See Costume. 
DUDLEIAN LECTURE. An anniversary sermon which is 
preached at Harvard College before the students ; supported 
by the yearly interest of one hundred pounds sterhng, the gift 
of Paul Dudley, from whom the lecture derives its name. 
The following topics were chosen by him as subjects for this 
lecture. First, for " the proving, explaining, and proper use 
and improvement of the principles of Natural Rehgion." 
Second, " for the confirmation, illustration, and improvement 
of the great articles of the Christian Rehgion." Third, " for 
the detecting, convicting, and exposing the idolatry, errors,^ 
and superstitions of the Romish Church." Fourth, "for 
maintaining, explaining, and proving the validity of the ordi- 
nation of ministers or pastors of the churches, and so their 
administration of the sacraments or ordinances of religion, as 
the same hath been practised in New England from the first 
beginning of it, and so continued to this day." 

" The instrument proceeds to declare," says Quincy, " that 
he does not intend to invalidate Episcopal ordination, or that 
practised in Scotland, at Geneva, and among the Dissenters 
in England and in this country, all which ' I esteem very 
safe, Scriptural, and valid.' He directed these subjects to be 
discussed in rotation, one every year, and appointed the Pres- 



AND CUSTOMS. 175 

ident of the College, the Professor of Divinity, the pastor of 
the First Church in Cambridge, the Senior Tutor of the Col- 
lege, and the pastor of the First Church in Roxbury, trustees 
of these lectures, which commenced in 1755, and have since 
been annually continued without intermission." — Quincifs 
Hist Harv. Univ., Vol. II. pp. 139, 140. 

DULCE DECUS. Latin ; literally, sweet honor. At Wil- 
liams College a name given by a certain class of students to 
the game of whist ; the reason for which is evident. Wheth- 
er Maecenas would have considered it an honor to have had 
the compliment of ^Horace, 

" O et praesidium et dulce decus meum," 
transferred as a title for a game at cards, we leave for others 
to decide. 

DUMMER JUNGE, — literally, stupid youth, — among Ger- 
man students " is the highest and most cutting insult, since ifc 
implies a denial of sound, manly understanding and strength 
of capacity to him to whom it is applied." — Howitt^s Student 
Life of Germany, Am. ed., p. 127. 

DUN. An importunate creditor who urges for payment. A 
character not wholly unknown to collegians. 

Thanks heaven, flings by his cap and gown, and shuns 
A place made odious by remorseless duns. 

The College, in Blackwood's Mag., May, 1849. 



E. 

EGRESSES. At the older American colleges, when charges 
were made and excuses rendered in Latin, the student who 
had left before the conclusion of any of the religious services 
was accused of the misdemeanor by the proper officer, who 
made use of the word egresses, a kind of barbarous second 



176 COLLEGE WORDS 

person singular of some imaginary verb, signifying, it is sup- 
posed, " you went out." 

Much absence, tardes and egresses, 

The college-evil on him seizes. 

TrumluWs Progress of Dullness, Part I. 

EIGHT. On the scale of merit, at Harvard College, eight is 
the highest mark which a student can receive for a recitation. 
Students speak of ^'getting an eight" which is equivalent to 
saying, that they have made a perfect recitation. 
But since the Fates will not grant aU eights, 

Save to some disgusting fellow 
Who '11 fish and dig, I care not a fig, 
We '11 be hard boys and mellow. 

MS. Poem, W. F. Allen. 
Numberless the eights he showers 

Full on my devoted head. — MS. Ibid. 

At the same college, when there were three exhibitions in 
the year, it was customary for the first eight scholars in the 
Junior Class to have " parts " at the first exhibition, the sec- 
ond eight at the second exhibition, and the third eight at the 
third exhibition. Eight Seniors performed with them at each 
of these three exiiibitions, but they were taken promiscuously 
from the first twenty-four in their class. Although there are 
now but two exhibitions in the year, twelve performing from 
each of the two upper classes, yet the students still retain the 
old phraseology, and you will often hear the question, " Is he 
in the first or second eight ? " 

The bell for morning prayers had long been sounding ! 
She says, " What makes you look so very pale ? " — 

" I 've had a dream." — " Spring to 't, or you '11 be late ! " — 

" Do n't care ! 'T was worth a part among the Second Eight.*' 

Childe Harvard, p. 121. 

ELECTIONEERING. In many colleges in the United 
States, where there are rival societies, it is customary, on 
the admission of a student to college, for the partisans of the 
different societies to wait upon him, and endeavor to secure 
him as a member. An account of this Society Electioneer- 



AND CUSTOMS. 177 

ing, as it is called, is given in Sketches of Tale College, at 
page 162. 

Sod^ty electioneering h.?,^ mostly gone by. — Williams Quarterly^ 
Vol. IT. p. 285. 

ELEGANT EXTRACTS. At the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., a cant title applied to some fifteen or twenty men who 
have just succeeded in passing their final examination, and 
who are bracketed together, at the foot of the PoUoi list. — 
Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 250. 

EMERITUS, pi. Emeriti. Latin ; literally, oUained ly ser- 
vice. One who has been honorably discharged from public 
service, as, in colleges and universities, a Professor Emeritus. 

EMIGRANT. In the English universities, one who migrates, 
or removes from one college to another. 

At Christ's, for three years successively, the first man was 

an emigrant from John's. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ.,, 
Ed. 2d, p. 100. 
See Migration. 
EMPTY BOTTLE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
the sobriquet of a fellow-commoner. 

Indeed they [fellow-commoners] are popularly denominated 
" empty bottles." the first word of the appellation being an adjective, 
though were it taken as a verb there would be no untruth in it. — 
Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 34. 

ENCENIA, pi. Greek iyKalvia, a feast of dedication. Festi- 
vals anciently kept on the days on which cities were built or 
churches consecrated ; and, in later times, ceremonies renewed 
at certain periods, as at Oxford, at the celebration of founders 
and benefactors. — Hooh. 

END WOMAN. At Bowdoin College, " end women," says 
a correspondent, " are the venerable females who officiate as 
chambermaids in the different entries." They are so called 
from the entries being placed at the ends of the buildings. 

ENGAGEMENT. At Yale College, the student, on entermg, 
signs an engagement, as it is called, in the words following : 
" I, A. B., on condition of being admitted as a member of 



178 COLLEGE WORDS 

Yale College, promise, on my faith and honor, to observe all 
the laws and regulations of this College ; particularly that I 
will faithfully avoid using profane language, gaming, and all 
indecent, disorderly behavior, and disrespectful conduct to the 
Faculty, and all combinations to resist their authority ; as 
witness my hand. A. B?' — Tale Coll. Oat, 1837, p. 10. 

Nearly the same formula is used at Wilhams College. 
ENGINE. At Harvard College, for many years before and 
succeeding the year 1800, a fire-engine was owned by the 
government, and was under the management of the students. 
In a MS. Journal, under date of Oct. 29, 1792, is this note : 
" This day I turned out to exercise the engine. P. M." The 
company were accustomed to attend all the fires in the neigh- 
boring towns, and were noted for their skill and efficiency. 
But they often mingled enjoyment with their labor, nor were 
they always as scrupulous as they might have been in the 
means used to advance it. In 1810, the engine having been 
newly repaired, they agreed to try its power on an o'ld house, 
which was to be fired at a given time. By some mistake, the 
alarm was given before the house was fairly burning. Many 
of the town's people endeavored to save it, but the company, 
di'agging the engine mto a pond near by, threw the dirty 
water on them in such quantities that they were glad to de- 
sist from their laudable endeavors. 

It was about this time that the Engine Society was organ- 
ized, before which so many pleasant poems and orations were 
annually delivered. Of these, that most noted is the " Re- 
"f^ belliad," which was spoken in the year 1819, and was first 
published in the year 1842. Of it the editor has well re- 
marked : " It still remains the text-book of the jocose, and 
is still regarded by all, even the melancholy, as a most happy 
production of humorous taste." Its author was Dr. Augustus 
Pierce, who died at Tyngsborough, May 20, 1849. 

The favorite beverage at fires was rum and molasses, com- 
monly called hlack-strap, which is referred to in the following 
lines, commemorative of the engine company in its palmier 
days. 



AND CUSTOMS. 179 

*' But oil ! let black-strap's sable god deploro 
Those engine-heroes so renowned of yore ! 
Gone is that spirit, -which, in ancient time, 
Inspired more deeds than ever shone in rhyme ! 
Ye, who remember the superb array. 
The deafening cry, the engine's ' maddening play,* 
The broken windows, and the floating floor. 
Wherewith those masters of hydraulic lore 
Were wont to make us tremble as we gazed, 
Can tell how many a false alarm was raised. 
How many a room by their o'erflowings drenched, 
And how few fires by their assistance quenched ? " 

Harvard Register, p. 235. 

The habit of attending fires in Boston, as it had a tendency 
to draw the attention of the students from their college duties, 
was in part the cause of the dissolution of the company. 
Their presence was always welcomed in the neighboring city, 
and although they often left their engine behind them on re- 
turning to Cambridge, it was usually sent out to them soon 
after. The company would often parade through the streets 
of Cambridge in masquerade dresses, headed by a chaplain, 
presenting a most ludicrous appearance. In passing through 
the College yard, it was the custom to throw water into any 
window that chanced to be open. Their fellow-students, 
knowing when they were to appear, usually kept their win- 
dows closed; but the officers were not always so fortunate. 
About the year 1822, having discharged water into the room 
of the College regent, thereby damaging a very valuable li- 
brary of books, the government disbanded the company, and 
shortly after sold the engine to the then town of Cam- 
bridge, on condition that it should never be taken out of the 
place. A few years ago it was again sold to some young 
men of West Cambridge, in whose hands it still remains. 
One of the brakes of the engine, a relic of its former glory, 
was lately discovered in the cellar of one of the College 
buildings, and that perchance has by this time been used to 
kindle the element which it once assisted to extinguish. 
ESQUIRE BEDELL. In the University of Cambridge, 



180 COLLEGE WORDS 

Eng., three Esquire Bedells are appointed, whose office is to 
attend the Vice- Chancellor, whom they precede with their sil- 
ver maces upon all pubHc occasions. — Cam. Guide. 

At the University of Oxford, the Esquire Bedells are three 
in number. They walk before the Vice- Chancellor in pro- 
cessions, and carry golden staves as the insignia of their office. 
— Guide to Oxford. 
See Beadle. 
EVANGELICAL. In student phrase, a rehgious, orthodox 
man, one who is sound in the doctrines of the Gospel, or one 
who is reading theology, is called an Evangelical. 

He was a King's College, London, man, an Evangelical. — Bris- 
ted's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 2G5. 

It has been said by some of the Evangelicals, that nothing can be 
done to improve the state of morality in the Universities so long as 
the present Church system continues. — Ibid., p. 348. 

EXAMINATION. An inquiry into the acquisitions of the 
students, in colleges and seminaries of learning, by question- 
ing them in literature and the sciences, and by hearing tlieir 
recitals. — Webster. 

In all colleges candidates for entrance are required to be 
able to pass an examination in certain branches of study 
before they can be admitted. The students are generally 
examined, in most colleges, at the close of each term. 

In the revised laws of Harvard College, printed in the 
year 1790, was one for the purpose of introducing examina- 
tions, the first part of which is as follows : " To animate 
the students in the pursuit of literary merit and fame, and to 
excite in their breasts a noble spirit of emulation, there shall 
be annually a public examination, in the presence of a joint 
committee of the Corporation and Overseers, and such other 
gentlemen as may be inclined to attend it." It then proceeds 
to enumerate the times and text-books for each class, and 
closes by stating, that, " should any student neglect or refuse 
to attend such examination, he shall be liable to be fined a 
sum not exceeding twenty shillings, or to be admonished or 
suspended." Great discontent was immediately evinced by 



AND CUSTOMS. 181 

the students at this regulation, and as it was not with this un- 
derstanding that they entered college, they considered it as an 
ex post facto law, and therefore not binding upon them. With 
these views, in the year 1791, the Senior and Junior Classes 
petitioned for exemption from the examination, but their ap- 
plication was rejected by the Overseers. When this was 
declared, some of the students determined to stop the exer- 
cises for that year, if possible. For this purpose they ob- 
tained six hundred grains of tartar emetic, and early on the 
morning of April 12th, the day on which the examination 
was to begin, emptied it into the great cooking boilers in the 
kitchen. At breakfast, 150 or more students and officers be- 
ing present, the coffee was brought on, made with the water 
from the boilers. Its effects were soon visible. One after 
another left the hall, some in a slow, others in a hurried man- 
ner, but all plainly showing that their situation was by no 
means a pleasant one. Out of the whole number there assem- 
bled, only four or five escaped without being made unwell. 
Those who put the drug in the coffee had drank the most, in 
order to escape detection, and were consequently the most 
severely affected. Unluckily, one of them was seen putting 
something into the boilers, and the names of the others were 
soon after discovered. Their punishment is stated in the fol- 
lowing memoranda from a manuscript journal. 

"Exhibition, 1791. April 20th. This morning Trapier 
was rusticated and Sullivan suspended to Groton for nine 
months, for mingling tartar emetic with our commons on y" 
morning of April 1 2 th." 

"May 21st. Ely was suspended to Amherst for five 
months, for assisting Sullivan and Trapier in mingling tartar 
emetic with our commons." 

Another student, who threw a stone into the examination- 
room, which struck the chair in which Governor Hancock 
sat, was more severely punished. The circumstance is men- 
tioned in the manuscript referred to above as follows : — 

"April 14th, 1791. Henry W. Jones of H was ex- 
pelled from College upon evidence of a little boy that he sent 
16 



182 COLLEGE -VVORDS 

a stone into y^ Philosopher's room while a committee of y" 
Corporation and Overseers, and all y^ Immediate Govern- 
ment, were engaged in examination of y^ Freshman Class." 

Although the examination was delayed for a day or two 
on account of these occurrences, it was again renewed and 
carried on during that year, although many attempts were 
made to stop it. For several years after, whenever these 
periods occurred, disturbances came "wdth them, and it was 
not until the year 1797 that the differences between the offi- 
cers and the students were satisfactorily adjusted, and exam- 
inations established on a sure basis. 
EXAMINE. To inquire into the improvements or qualifica- 
tions of students, by interrogatories, proposing problems, or 
by hearing their recitals ; as, to examine the classes in col- 
lege ; to examine the candidates for a degree, or for a license 
to preach or to practise in a profession. — Webster. 

EXAMINEE. One who is examined ; one who undergoes an 
examination. 

What loads of cold beef and lobster vanish before the examinees. 
— Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 72. 

EXAMINER. One who examines. In colleges and semina- 
ries of learning, the person who interrogates the students, 
proposes questions for them to answer, and problems to solve. 
Coming forward with assumed carelessness, he threw towards us 
the formal reply of his examiners. — Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 9. 

EXEAT. Latin ; literally, let him depart. Leave of absence 
given to a student in the English universities. — Webster. 

The students who wish to go home apply for an " Exeat" which 
is a paper signed by the Tutor, Master, and Dean. — Alma Mater, 
Vol. I. p. 162. 

[At King's College], exeats, or permission to go down during 
term, were never granted but in cases of life and death. — Bris- 
ted's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 140. 

EXERCISE. A task or lesson ; that which is appointed for 
one to perform. In colleges, all the literary duties are called 
exercises. 



AND CUSTOMS. 183 

It may be inquired, whether a great part of the exercises be not 
at best but serious follies. — Cotton Mather's Suggestions, in Quincy's 
Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 558. 

In the English universities, certain exercises, as acts, oppo- 
nencies, &c., are required to be performed for particular de- 
grees. 
EXHIBIT. To take part in an exhibition ; to speak in public 
at an exhibition or commencement. 

No student who shall receive any appointment to exhibit before 
the class, the College, or the public, shall give any treat or enter- 
tainment to his class, or any part thereof, for or on account of those 
appointments. — Laws Yale Coll., 1837, p. 29. 

If any student shall fail to perform the exercise assigned him, or 
shall exhibit anything not allowed by the Faculty, he may be sent 
home.— /&iU, 1837, p. 16. 

2. To provide for poor students by an exhibition. (See 
Exhibition, second meaning.) An instance of this use is 
given in the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, where one Antony 
Wood says of Bishop Longland, " He was a special friend to 
the University, in maintaining its privileges and in exhibiting 
to the wants of certain scholars." In Mr. Peirce's History 
of Harvard University occurs this passage, in an account of 
the will of the Hon. William Stoughton : " He bequeathed a 
pasture in Dorchester, containing twenty-three acres and four 
acres of marsh, * the income of both to be exhibited, in the 
first place, to a scholar of the town of Dorchester, and if 
there be none such, to one of the town of Milton, and in want 
of such, then to any other well deserving that shall be most 
needy.' " — p. 77. 
EXHIBITION. In colleges, a public literary and oratorical 
display. The exercises at exhibitions are original composi- 
tions, prose translations from the English into Greek and 
Latin, and from other languages into the English, metrical 
versions, dialogues, &c. 

At Harvard College, in the year 1760, it was voted, " that 
twice in a year, in the spring and fall, each class should re- 
cite to their Tutors, in the presence of the President, Profes- 



184 COLLEGE WOKDS 

sors, and Tutors, in the several books in which they are re- 
citing to their respective Tutors, and that publicly in the 
College Hall or Chapel." The next year, the Overseers 
being informed " that the students are not required to trans- 
late English into Latin nor Latin into English," their com- 
mittee " thought it would be convenient that specimens of 
such translations and other performances in classical and 
polite literature should be from time to time laid before" 
their board. A vote passed the Board of Overseers recom- 
mending to the Corporation a conformity to these suggestions ; 
but it was not until the year 1766 that a law was formally 
enacted in both boards, " that twice in the year, viz. at the 
semiannual visitation of the committee of the Overseers, some 
of the scholars, at the direction of the President and Tutors, 
shall publicly exhibit specimens of their proficiency, by pro- 
nouncing orations and delivering dialogues, either in English 
or in one of the learned languages, or hearing a forensic dis- 
putation, or such other exercises as the President and Tutors 
shall direct." — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. IL pp. 128- 
132. 

A few years after this, two more exhibitions were added, 
and were so arranged as to fall one in each quarter of the 
College year. The last year in which there were four exhi- 
bitions was 1789. After this time there were three exhibi- 
tions during the year until 1849, when one was omitted, since 
which time the original plan has been adopted. 

In the journal of a member of the class which graduated at 
Harvard College in the year 1793, under the date of Decem- 
ber 23d, 1789, Exhibition, is the following memorandum ; 
" Music was intermingled with elocution, which (we read) 
has charms to soothe even a savage breast." Again, on a 
similar occasion, April 13th, 1790, an account of the exer- 
cises of the day closes with this note : " Tender music being 
interspersed to enliven the audience." Vocal music was 
sometimes introduced. In the same Journal, date October 
1st, 1790, Exhibition, the writer says : " The performances 
were enlivened with an excellent piece of music, sung by 



AND CUSTOMS. 185 

Harvard Singing Club, accompanied with a band of music." 
From this time to the present day, music, either vocal or 
instrumental, has formed a very entertaining part of the 
Exhibition performances.* 

The exercises for exhibitions are assigned by the Faculty 
to meritorious students, usually of the two higher classes. 
The exhibitions are held under the direction of the President, 
and a refusal to perform the part assigned is regarded as a 
high offence. — Laws of Univ. at Gam., Mass., 1848, p. 19. 
Laws Tale Coll., 1837, p. 16. 

2. Allowance of meat and drink ; pension ; benefaction 
settled for the maintenance of scholars in the English Uni- 
versities, not depending on the foundation. — Encyc. 
What maintenance he from his friends receives, 
Like exhibition thou shalt have from me. 

Two Gent. Verona, Act. I. So. 3. 

This word was formerly used in American colleges. 

I order and appoint .... ten pounds a year for one exhibition, 
to assist one pious young man. — Quina/s Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. 
I. p. 530. 

As to the extending the time of his exhibitions, we agree to it. — 
Ibid., Vol. I. p. 532. 

In the yearly " Statement of the Treasurer " of Harvard 
College, the word is still retained. 

" A school exhibitions^ says a writer in the Literary World, 
with reference to England, " is a stipend given to the head 
boys of a school, conditional on their proceeding to some par- 
ticular college in one of the universities." — Vol. XIL p. 285. 

EXHIBITIONER. One who has a pension or allowance, 
granted for the encouragement of learning ; one who enjoys 
an exhibition. Used principally in the English universities. 
2, One who performs a part at an exhibition in American 
colleges is sometimes called an exhibitioner. 

EXPEL. In college government, to command to leave ; to 

* A printed " Order of Exhibition " was issued at Harvard College in 
1810, for the first time. 

16* 



183 COLLEGE WORDS 

dissolve the connection of a student ; to interdict him from 
further connection. — Webster, 

EXPULSION. In college government, expulsion is the high- 
est censure, and is a final separation from the college or uni- 
versity. — OoU. Laws. 

In the Diary of Mr. Leverett, who was President of Har- 
vard College from 1707 to 1724, is an account of the manner 
in which the punishment of expulsion was then inflicted. It 
is. as follows : — " In the College Hall the President, after 
morning prayers, the Fellows, Masters of Art, and the sev- 
eral classes of Undergraduates being present, after a full 
opening of the crimes of the delinquents, a pathetic admoni- 
tion of them, and solemn obtestation and caution to the schol- 
ars, pronounced the sentence of expulsion, ordered their names 
to be rent off the tables, and them to depart the Hall." — 
Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 442. 

In England, " an expelled man," says Bristed, " is shut 
out from the learned professions, as well as from all -Colleges 
at either University." — Five Tears i^i an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, p. 131. 



F. 

FACILITIES. The means by which the performance of any- 
thing is rendered easy. — Webster. 

Among students, a general name for what are technically 
called ponies or translations. 

All such subsidiary helps in learning lessons, he classed .... 
under the opprobrious name of ^'■facilities" and never scrupled to 
seize them as contraband goods. — Memorial of John S. Popkin, 
D. D., p. Ixxvii. 

FACULTY. In colleges, the masters and professors of the 
several sciences. — Johnson, 



AND CUSTOMS. 187 

In America, the faculty of a college or university consists 
of the president, professors, and tutors. — Webster. 

The duties of the faculty are very extended. They have 
the general control and direction of the studies pursued in the 
college. They have cognizance of all offences committed by 
undergraduates, and it is their special duty to enforce the 
observance of all the laws and regulations for maintaining 
discipline, and promoting good order, virtue, piety, and good 
learning in the institution with which they are connected. 
The faculty hold meetings to communicate and compare their 
opinions and information, respecting the conduct and charac- 
ter of the students and the state of the college ; to decide 
upon the petitions or requests which may be offered them, by 
the members of college, and to consider and suggest such 
measures as may tend to the advancement of learning, and 
the improvement of the college. This assembly is called a 
Faculty-meeting^ a word very often in the mouths of students. 
— ColL Laivs. 

2. One of the members or departments of a university. 

" In the origin of the University of Paris," says Brande, 
" the seven Uberal arts (grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, 
geometry, astronomy, and music) seem to have been the sub- 
jects of academic instruction. These constituted what was 
afterwards designated the Faculty of Arts. Three other 
faculties — those of divinity, law, and medicine — were sub- 
sequently added. In all these four, lectures were given, and 
degrees conferred by the University. The four Faculties 
were transplanted to Oxford and Cambridge, where they are 
still retained ; although, in point of fact, the faculty of arts is 
the only one in which substantial instruction is communicated 
in the academical course." — Brande' s Dict.^ Art. Faculty. 

In some American colleges, these four departments are 
established, and sometimes a fifth, the Scientific, is added. 
FAG. Scotch, faih^ to fail, to languish. Ancient Swedish, 
wik-a, cedere. To drudge ; to labor to weariness ; to be- 
come weary. 

2. To study hard ; to persevere in study. 



188 COLLEGE WORDS 

Place me 'midst every toil and care, 
A hapless undergraduate still, 
To fag at mathematics dire, &c. 

Gradus ad Cantab.^ p. 8. 

Dee, the famous mathematician, appears to have fagged as intensely 
as any man at Cambridge. For three years, he declares, he only 
slept four hours a night, and allowed two hours for refreshment. 
The remaining eighteen hours were spent in study. — Ibid.^ p. 48. 

How did ye toil, and fagg, and fume, and fret, 
And — what the bashful muse would blush to say. 
But, now, your painful tremors are all o'er, 
Cloath'd in the glories of a full-sleev'd gown. 
Ye strut majestically up and down. 
And now ye fagg, and now ye fear, no more ! 

Gent. Mag., 1795, p. 20. 

FAG. A laborious drudge ; a drudge for another. In colleges 
and schools, this term is applied to a boy of a lower form who 
is forced to do menial services for another boy of a higher 
form or class. 

But who are those three by-standers, that have such an air of 
submission and awe in their countenances ? They are fags, — 
Freshmen, poor fellows, called out of their beds, and shivering with 
fear in the apprehension of missing morning prayers, to wait upon 
their lords the Sophomores in their midnight revellings. — Har- 
vardiana. Vol. II. p. 106. 

'His fag he had well-nigh killed by a blow. 

Wallenstein in Bohn's Stand. Lib., p. 155. 

A sixth-form schoolboy is not a little astonished to find his fags 
becoming his masters. — Lond. Quar. Rev., Am. Ed., Vol. LXXIII. 
p. 53. 

Under the title Freshman Servitude will be found an 
account of the manner in which members of that class were 
formerly treated in the older American colleges. 

2. A diligent student, i. e. a diff. 

FAG. Time spent in, or period of, studying. 

The afternoon's fag is a pretty considerable one, lasting from 
three till dark. — Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 248. 



AND CUSTOMS. 189 

After another hard/a^' of a week or two, a land excursion would 
be proposed. — Ihid.^ Vol. 11. p. 56. 

FAGGING. Laborious drudgery ; the acting as a drudge for 
another at a college or school. 

2. Studying hard, equivalent to digging, gruhhing, S^c. 

Thrice happy ye, through toil and dangers past, 
Who rest upon that peaceful shore, 
Where all jour fagging is no more. 
And gain the long-expected port at last. 

Gent. Mag., 1795, p. 19. 
To fagging I set to, therefore, with as keen a relish as ever alder- 
man sat down to turtle. — Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 123. 

See what I pay for hberty to leave school early, and to figure in 
every ball-room in the country, and see the world, instead of fag- 
ging at college. — Collegian's Guide, p. 307. 

FAIR HARVARD. At the ' celebration of the era of the 
second century from the origin of Harvard College, which 
was held at Cambridge, September 8th, 1836, the following 
Ode, written by the Rev. Samuel Gilman, D. D., of Charles- 
ton, S. C, was sung to the air, " Believe me, if all those en- 
dearing young charms." 

" Fair Harvard ! thy sons to thy Jubilee throng, 

And with blessings surrender thee o'er. 
By these festival-rites, from the Age that is past, 

To the Age that is waiting before. 
O Relic and Type of our ancestors' worth. 

That hast long kept their memory warm ! 
First flower of their wilderness ! Star of their night, 

Calm rising through change and through storm ! 

" To thy bowers we were led in the bloom of our youth, 

From the home of our free-roving years, 
When our fathers had warned, and our mothers had prayed, 

And our sisters had blest, through their tears. 
Thou then wert our parent, — the nurse of our souls, — 

We were moulded to manhood by thee. 
Till, freighted with treasure-thoughts, friendships, and hopes, 

Thou didst launch us on Destiny's sea. 



190 COLLEGE "WORDS 

" When, as pilgrims, we come to revisit thy halls, 

To what kindlings the season gives birth ! 
Thy shades are more soothing, thy sunlight more dear, 

Than descend on less privileged earth : 
For the Good and the Great, in their beautiful prime, 

Through thy precincts have musingly trod, 
As they girded their spirits, or deepened the streams 

That make glad the fair City of God. 

" Farewell ! be thy destinies onward and bright ! 

To thy children the lesson still give. 
With freedom to think, and with patience to bear, 

And for right ever bravely to live. 
Let not moss-covered Error moor thee at its side, 

As the world on Truth's current glides by ; 
Be the herald of Light, and the bearer of Love, 

Till the stock of the Puritans die." 

Since the occasion on which this ode was sung, it has been 
the practice with the odists of Class Day at Harvard College 
to write the farewell class song to the tune of " Fair Har- 
vard," the name by which the Irish air " Believe me " has 
been adopted. The deep pathos of this melody renders it 
peculiarly appropriate to the circumstances with which it has 
been so happily connected, and from which it is to be hoped 
it may never be severed. 
See Class Day. 
FAIR LICK. In the game of football, when the ball is fairly 
caught or kicked beyond the bounds, the cry usually heard, 
is Fair lick ! Fair lick I 

" Fair lick I " he cried, and raised his dreadful foot. 
Armed at all points with the ancestral boot. 

Harvardiana, Vol. IV. p. 22. 
See Football. 

FANTASTICS. At Princeton College, an exhibition on Com- 
mencement evening, of a number of students on horseback, 
fantastically dressed in masks, &c. 

FAST. An epithet of one who is showy in dress, expensive 
or apparently so in his mode of living, and inclined to spree. 



AND CUSTOMS. 191 

Formerly used exclusively among students ; now of more 
general application. 

Speaking of the student signification of the word, Bristed 
remarks : " A fast man is not necessarily (like the London 
fast man) a rowing man, though the two attributes are often 
combined in the same person ; he is one who dresses flashily, 
talks big, and spends, or affects to spend, money very freely." 
— Five Years in an Enfig. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 23. 
The Fast Man comes, with reeling tread, 
Cigar in mouth, and swimming head. 

MS. Poem, F. E. Felton. 

FAT. At Princeton College, a letter with money or a draft is 
thus denominated. 

FATHER OR PRELECTOR. In the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., one of the fellows of a college, who attends all 
the examinations for the Bachelor's degree, to see that justice 
is done to the candidates from his own college, who are at 
that time called his sons. — Gradus ad Gantab. 

The Fathers of the respective colleges, zealous for the credit of 
the societies of which they are the guardians, are incessantly em- 
ployed in examining those students who appear most likely to con- 
test the palm of glory with their sons. — Gent. Mag., 1773, p. 435. 

FEBRUARY TWENTY-SECOND. At Shelby, Centre, 
and Bacon Colleges, in Kentucky, it is customary to select 
the best orators and speakers from the different literary soci- 
eties to deliver addresses on the twenty-second of February, 
in commemoration of the birthday of Washington. At Beth- 
any College, in Virginia, this day is observed in a similar 
manner. 

FEEZE. Usually spelled Pheeze, q. v. 

Under Flop, another, but probably a wrong or obsolete, 
signification is given. 

FELLOW. A member of a corporation; a trustee. In the 
English universities, a residence at the college, engagement 
in instruction, and receiving therefor a stipend, are essential 
requisites to the character of a felloiv. In American col- 



192 COLLEGE WORDS 

leges, it is not necessary that a fellow should be a resident, a 
stipendiary, or an instructor. In most cases the greater num- 
ber of the Fellows of the Corporation are non-residents, and 
have no part in the instruction at the college. 

With reference to the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
Bristed remarks : " The Fellows, who form the general body 
from Vk^hich the other college officers are chosen, consist of 
those four or five Bachelor Scholars in each year who pass the 
best examination in classics, mathematics, and metaphysics. 
This examination being a severe one, and only the last of 
many trials which they have gone through, the inference is 
allowable that they are the most learned of the College grad- 
uates. They have a handsome income, whether resident or 
not ; but if resident, enjoy the additional advantages of a 
well-spread table for nothing, and good rooms at a very low 
price. The only conditions of retaining their Fellowships 
are, that they take orders after a certain time and remain un- 
married. Of those who do not fill college offices, some occu- 
py themselves with private pupils ; others, who have property 
of their own, prefer to live a life of literary leisure, lilve some 
of their predecessors, the monks of old. The eight oldest 
Fellows at any time in residence, together with the Master, 
have the government of the coUege vested in them." — Five 
Tears in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 16. 

For some remarks on the word Fellow, see under the title 
College. 
FELLOW-COMMONER. In the University of Cambridge, 
England, Fellow - Commoners are generally the younger sons 
of the nobility, or young men of fortune, and have the privi- 
lege of dining at the Fellows' table, whence the appellation 
originated. 

" Fellow-Commoners," says Bristed, " are ' young men of 
fortune,' as the Cambridge Calendar and Cambridge Guide 
have it, who, in consideration of their paying twice as much 
for everything as anybody else, are allowed the privilege of 
sitting at the Fellows' table in hall, and in their seats at chap- 
el ; of wearing a gown with gold or silver lace, and a velvet 



AND CUSTOMS. 193 

cap with a metallic tassel ; of having the first choice of rooms ; 
and as is generally believed, and believed not without rea- 
son, of getting off with a less number of chapels per week. 
Among them are included the Honorables not eldest sons, — 
only these wear a hat instead of the velvet cap, and are 
thence popularly known as Hat Fellow-Commoners." — Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 13. 

A Fellow -Commoner at Cambridge is equivalent to an Ox- 
ford Gentleman -Commoner, and is in all respects similar to 
what in private schools and seminaries is called a parlor 
hoarder. A fuller account of this, the first rank at the Uni- 
versity, will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, p. 
20, and in the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, p. 50. 

" Fellow- Commoners have been nicknamed ^ Empty Bot- 
tles ' / They have been called, likewise, ' Useless Members ' ! 
'The licensed Sons of Ignorance.' " — Gradus ad Cantab. 

The Fellow-Commoners, alias empty hoitles, (not so called because 
they Ve let out anything during the examination,) are then pre- 
sented. — Alma Mater, Vol. IL p. 101. 

In the old laws of Harvard College we find the following : 
" None shall be admitted a Fellow - Commoner unless he first 
pay thirteen pounds six and eight pence to the college. And 
every Fellow - Commoner shall pay double tuition money. 
They shall have the privilege of dining and supping with the 
Fellows at their table in the hall ; they shall be excused from 
going on errands, and shall have the title of Masters, and 
have the privilege of wearing their hats as the Masters do ; 
but shall attend all duties and exercises with the rest of their 
class, and be alike subject to the laws and government of the 
College," &c. The Hon. Paine Wingate, a graduate of the 
class of 1759, says in reference to this subject: " I never heard 
anything about Fellow - Commoners in college excepting in this 
paragraph. I am satisfied there has been no such description 
of scholars at Cambridge since I have known anything about 
the place." — Peirce's Hist. Haw. Coll., p. 314. 

In the Appendix to " A Sketch of the History of Harvard 
College," by Samuel A. Ehot, is a memorandum, in the list 
17 



194 COLLEGE WORDS 

of donations to that institution, under the date 1683, to this 
effect. " Mr. Joseph Brown, Mr. Edward Page, Mr. Francis 
Wainwright, fellow-commoners, gave each a silver goblet." 
Mr. Wainwright graduated in 1686. The other two do not 
appear to have received a degree. All things considered, it 
is probable that this order, although introduced from the Uni- 
versity of Cambridge, England, into Harvard College, re- 
ceived but few members, on account of the evil influence 
which such distinctions usually exert. 

FELLOW OF THE HOUSE. See under House. 

FELLOW, RESIDENT. At Harvard College, the tutors 
were formerly called resident felloivs. — Quinci/s Hist. Harv. 
Univ., Vol. L p. 278. 

The resident fellows were tutors to the classes, and instructed 
them in Hebrew, " and led them through all the liberal arts before 
the four years were expired." — Harv. Reg., p. 249. 

FELLOWSHIP. An establishment in colleges, for the main- 
tenance of a fellow. — Webster. 

In Harvard College, tutors were formerly called Fellows 
of the House or College, and their office, fellowships. In this 
sense that word is used in the following passage. 

Joseph Stevens was chosen " Fellow of the College, or House," 
and as such was approved by that board [the Corporation], in the 
language of the records, " to supply a vacancy in one of the Fel- 
lowships of the House." — Qidncifs Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 279. 

FELLOWS' ORCHARD. See Tutors' Pasture. 
FEMUR. Latin ; a thigh-hone. At Yale College, a femur 
was formerly the badge of a medical bully. 

When hand in hand all joined in band, 

With clubs, umbrellas, femurs, 
Declaring death and broken teeth 
'Gainst blacksmiths, cobblers, seamers. 

The Crayon, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 14. 
" One hundred valiant warriors, who 
(My Captain bid me say) 
Thxee femurs wield, with one to fight, 
With two to nin away, 



AND CUSTOMS. 195 

" Wait in Scull Castle, to receive, 
With open gates, your men ; 
Their right arms nerved, their femws clenched, 
Safe to protect ye then ! " — Ibid., p. 23. 

FERG. To lose the heat of excitement or passion ; to become 
less angry, ardent ; to cool. A correspondent from the Uni- 
versity of Vermont, where this word is used, says : " If a 
man gets angry, we Met him ferg,^ and he feels better." 

FESS. Probably abbreviated for Confess. In some of the 
Southern Colleges, to fail in reciting ; to silently request the 
teacher not to put farther queries. 

This word is in use among the cadets at West Point, with 
the same meaning. 

And when you and I, and Benny, and General Jackson too. 
Are brought before a final board our course of life to view, 

May we never "/ess " on any " point," but then be told to go 
To join the army of the blest, with Benny Havens, O ! 

Song, Benny Havens, ! 

FINES. In many of the colleges in the United States it was 
formerly customary to impose fines upon the students as a 
punishment for non-compliance with the laws. The practice 
is now very generally abolished. 

About the middle of the eighteenth century, the custom of 
punishing by pecuniary mulcts began, at Harvard College, to 
be considered objectionable. " Although," says Quincy, " lit- 
tle regarded by the students, they were very annoying to their 
parents." A list of the fines which were imposed on students 
at that period presents a curious aggregate of offences and 
punishments. 

Absence from prayers, 

Tardiness at prayers, ...... 

Absence from Professor's public lecture. 

Tardiness at do. ... 

Profanation of Lord's day, not exceeding 

Absence from public worship, 

Tardiness at do. .... 

Ill behavior at do. not exceeding 



£ 



s. 



d. 

2 








1 








4 








2 





3 











9 








3 





1 


6 









d. 
6 








9 





1 


6 








6 





1 


6 





1 


6 





1 


6 





3 








1 


6 





3 








2 


6 



196 COLLEGE WOKDS 



Going to meeting before bell-ringing, .... 

Neglecting to repeat the sermon, .... 

Irreverent behavior at prayers, or public divinity lectures, 

Absence from chambers, &c., not exceeding 

Not declaiming, not exceeding ..... 

Not giving up a declamation, not exceeding 

Absence from recitation, not exceeding 

Neglecting analyzing, not exceeding 

Bachelors neglecting disputations, not exceeding . 

Respondents neglecting do. from Is. Q>d. to 

Undergraduates out of town without leave, not exceeding 

Undergraduates tarrying out of town without leave, not 

exceeding ^cr diem, . . . . . .013 

Undergraduates tarrying out of tov^^n one week without 

leave, not exceeding 10 

Undergraduates tarrying out of town one month Avithout 

leave, not exceeding 

Lodging strangers without leave, not exceeding 
Entertaining persons of ill character, not exceeding 
Going out of College without proper garb, not exceeding 
Frequenting taverns, not exceeding .... 

Profane cursing, not exceeding .... 

Graduates playing cards, not exceeding 
Undergraduates playing cards, not exceeding . 
Undergraduates playing any game for money, not exceeding 
Selling and exchanging without leave, not exceeding 
Lying, not exceeding ...... 

Opening door by pick-locks, not exceeding 
Drunkenness, not exceeding .... 

Liquors prohibited under penalty, not exceeding 
Second offence, not exceeding .... 

Keeping prohibited liquors, not exceeding 
Sending for do. ..... 

Fetching do. 

Going upon the top of the College, 

Cutting off the lead, ..... 

Concealing the transgression of the 19th Law,* . 
Tumultuous noises, ...... 

Second offence, . . . . . . . 



2 


10 








1 


6 





1 


6 








6 





1 


6 





2 


6 





5 








2 


6 





1 


6 





1 


6 





1 


G 





5 








1 


6 





1 


G 





3 








1 


6 








6 





1 


6 





1 


6 





1 


C 





1 


6 





1 


G 





3 






* In reference to cutting lead from the old College. 



£ 



5. 

3 


d. 






1 








5 








1 


6 








9 





1 








2 


6 





1 


6 



AND CUSTOMS. 197 

Refusing to give evidence, ...... 

Rudeness at meals, 

Butler and cook to keep utensils clean, not exceeding 
Not lodging at their chambers, not exceeding 
Sending Freshmen in studying time, 
Keeping guns, and going on skating, 
Firing guns or pistols in College yard. 
Fighting or hurting any j)erson, not exceeding 

In 1761, a committee, of v/hich Lieutenant-Governor 
Hutchinson was a member, was appointed to consider of 
some other method of punishing offenders. Although they 
did not altogether abolish mulcts, yet " they proposed that, in 
lieu of an increase of mulcts, absences without justifiable 
cause from any exercise of the College should subject the 
delinquent to warning, private admonition, exhortation to 
duty, and public admonition, with a notification to parents ; 
when recitations had been omitted, performance of them 
should be exacted at some other time ; and, by way of pun- 
ishment for disorders, confinement, and the performance of 
exercises during its continuance, should be enjoined." — 
Quincys Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. II. pp. 135, 136. 

By the laws of 1798, fines not exceeding one dollar were 
imposed by a Professor or Tutor, or the Librarian ; not ex- 
ceeding two dollars, by the President ; all above two doUars, 
by the President, Professors, and Tutors, at a meeting. 

Upon this subject, with reference to Harvard College, Pro- 
fessor Sidney Willard remarks : " For a long period fines 
constituted the punishment of undergraduates for negligence 
in attendance at the exercises and in the performance of the 
lessons assigned to them. A fine was the lowest degree in 
the gradation of punishment. This mode of punishment or 
disapprobation was liable to objections, as a tax on the father 
rather than a rebuke of the son, (except it might be, in some 
cases, for the indirect moral influence produced upon the lat- 
ter, operating on his filial feeling,) and as a mercenary exac- 
tion, since the money went into the treasury of the College. 
It was a good day for the College when this punishment 
17* 



198 COLLEGE WORDS 

through the purse was abandoned as a part of the system of 
punishments ; which, not confined to neglect of study, had 
been extended also to a variety of misdemeanors more or less 
aggravated and aggravating." — Memories of Youth and 3Ian- 
hood, Vol. I. p. 304. 

" Of fines," says President Woolsey, in his Historical Dis- 
course relating to Yale College, " the laws are full, and other 
documents show that the laws did not sleep. Thus there was 
in 1748 a fine of a penny for the absence of an undergraduate 
from prayers, and of a half-penny for tardiness or coming in 
after the introductory collect ; of fourpence for absence from 
pubhc worship ; of from two to six pence for absence from 
oi\e's chamber during the time of study ; of one shilling for 
picking open a lock the first time, and two shillings the sec- 
ond ; of two and sixpence for playing at cards or dice, or for 
bringing strong liquor into College ; of one shilling for doing 
damage to the College, or jumping out of the windows, — and 
so in many other cases. 

" In the year 1759, a somewhat unfair pamphlet was writ- 
ten, which gave occasion to several others in quick succession, 
wherein, amidst other complaints of President Clap's admin- 
istration, mention is made of the large amount of fines imposed 
upon students. The author, after mentioning that in three 
years' time over one hundred and seventy-two pounds of law- 
ful money was collected in this way, goes on to add, that * such 
an exorbitant collection by fines tempts one to suspect that 
they have got together a most disorderly set of young men 
training up for the service of the churches, or that they are 
governed and corrected chiefly by pecuniary punishments ; — 
that almost all sms in that society are purged and atoned for 
by money.' He adds, with justice, that these fines do not fall 
on the persons of the offenders, — most of the students being 
minors, — but upon their parents ; and that the practice takes 
place chiefly where there is the least prospect of working a 
reformation, since the thoughtless and extravagant, being the 
principal offenders against College law, would not lay it to 
heart if their frolics should cost them a little more by way of 



AND CUSTOMS. 199 

fine. He further expresses his opinion, that this way of pun- 
ishing the children of the College has but little tendency to 
better their hearts and reform their manners ; that pecuniary 
impositions act only by touching the shame or covetousness or 
necessities of those upon whom they are levied ; and that fines 
had ceased to become dishonorable at College, while to appeal 
to the love of money was expelling one devil by another, and 
to restrain the necessitous by fear of fine would be extremely 
cruel and unequal. These and other considerations are very 
properly urged, and the same feeling is manifested in the laws 
by the gradual abolition of nearly all pecuniary mulcts. The 
practice, it ought to be added, was by no means peculiar to 
Yale College, but was transferred, even in a milder form, from 
the colleges of England." — pp. 47, 48. 

In connection with this subject, it may not be inappropriate 
to mention the following occurrence, which is said to have 
taken place at Harvard College. 

Dr. , in 'propria persona, called upon a Southern stu- 
dent one morning in the recitation-room to define logic. The 

question was something in this form. " Mr. , what is 

logic ? " Ans. " Logic, Sir, is the art of reasoning." " Ay ; 
but I wish you to give the definition in the exact words of the 
learned author^ " 0, Sir, he gives a very long, intricate, con- 
fused definition, with which I did not think proper to burden 
my memory." " Are you aware who the learned author is ? " 
" O, yes ! your honor, Sir." " Well, then, I fine you one dol- 
lar for disrespect." Taking out a two-dollar note, the stu- 
dent said, with the utmost sang froid, " If you will change 
this, I will pay you on the spot." " I fine you another dollar," 
said the Professor, emphatically, " for repeated disrespect." 
" Then 't is just the change, Sir," said the student, coolly. 

FIRST-YEAR MEN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng- 
land, the title of First- Year Men, or Freshmen, is given to stu- 
dents during the first year of their residence at the University. 

FISH. At Harvard College, to seek or gain the good-will of 
an instructor by flattery, caresses, kindness, or officious civili- 
ties ; to curry favor. The German word jischen has a sec- 



200 COLLEGE WORDS 

ondary meaning, to get by cunning, whicli is similar to the 
English wordj^s^. Students speak of fishing for parts, ap- 
pointments, ranks, marks, &c. 

I give to those tlmtjishfo}^ parts, 
' Long, sleepless nights, and aching hearts, 
A little soul, a fawning spirit. 
With half a grain of plodding merit, 
Which is, as Heaven I hope will say. 
Giving what 's not my own away. 

Will of Charles Prentiss, in Rural Repository, 1795. 
Who would let a Tutor knave 
Screw him like a Guinea slave ! 
Who -would fsJi a fine to save ! 

Let him turn and flee. — Rehelliad, p. 35. 
Did I not promise those y^hofislied 

And pimped most, any part they wished ? — Ihid., p. 33. 
'T is all well here ; though 't were a grand mistake 
To write so, should one " j^sA " for a " forty-eight ! " 

Cliilde Harvard, p. 33. 
Still achieving, still intriguing. 
Learn to labor and to JisJi. 

Poem before F. if., 1849. 

The following passage explains more clearly, perhaps, the 
meaning of this word. " Any attempt to raise your standing 
by ingratiating yourself with the instructors, will not only be 
useless, but dishonorable. Of course, in your intercourse 
with the Professors and Tutors, you will not be wanting in 
that respect and courtesy which is due to them, both as your 
superiors and as gentlemen." — Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 79. 
Washington AUston, who graduated at Harvard College in 
the year 1800, left a painting of a fishing scene, to be trans- 
mitted from class to class. It was in existence in the year 
1828, but has disappeared of late. 
FISH. "^ One who attempts to ingratiate himself with his 
FISHER, j instructor, thereby to obtain favor or advantage ; 
one who curries favor. 

You besought me to respect my teachers, and to be attentive to 
my studies, though it shall procure me the odious title of a "fisher." 
— Monthly Anthology, Boston, 1804, Vol. I. p. 153. 



AND CUSTOMS. 201 

FISHING. The act performed bj a Jisher, The full force 
of this word is set forth in a letter from Dr. Popkin, a 
Professor at Harvard College, to his brother William, dated 
Boston, October 17th, 1800. 

" I am sensible that the good conduct which I have advised 
you, and which, I doubt not, you are inclined to preserve, 
may expose you to the opprobrious epithet, fishing. You 
undoubtedly understand, by this time, the meaning of that 
frightful term, which has done more damage in college than 
all the bad wine, and roasted pigs, that have ever fired the 
frenzy of Genius ! The meaning of it, in short, is nothing 
less than this, that every one who acts as a reasonable being 
in the various relations and duties of a scholar is using the 
basest means to ingratiate himself with the government, and 
seeking by mean compliances to purchase their honors and 
favors. At least, I thought "this to be true when I was in 
the government. If times and . manners are altered, I am 
heartily glad of it; but it will not injure you to hear the tales 
of former times. If a scholar appeared to perform his exer- 
cises to his best ability, if there were not a marked contempt 
and indifference in his manner, I would hear the whisper run 
round the class, fisliing. If one appeared firm enough to per- 
form an unpopular duty, or showed common civility to his 
instructors, who certainly wished him well, he was fishing. 
If he refused to join in some general disorder, he was in- 
sulted with fishing. If he did not appear to despise the 
esteem and approbation of his instructors, and to disclaim all 
the rewards of diligence and virtue, he was suspected of fish- 
ing. The fear of this suspicion or imputation has, I believe, 
perverted many minds which, from good and honorable mo- 
tives, were better disposed." — Memorial of John S. Poplduy 
D. D., pp. xxvi., xxvii. 

To those -who Ve parts at exhibition, 
Obtained by long, unwearied fishings 
I say, to such unlucky wretches, 
I give, for wear, a brace of breeches. 
Will of Charles Prentiss, in Rural Repository, 1795. 



202 



COLLEGE WORDS 



And, since his JisJiing on the land was vain, 

To try liis luck upon the azure main. — Class Poem^ 1835. 

Whenever I needed advice or assistance, I did not hesitate, 

through any fear of the charge of what, in the College cant, was 

called ^'"JisMng" to ask it of Dr. Popkin. — Memorial of John S. 

Popkin^ D. Z>., p. ix. 

At Dartmouth College, the electioneering fon members of 
the secret societies was formerly called ^57^^?^y. At the same 
institution, individuals in the Senior Class were said to hejish- 
ing for appointments^ if they tried to gain the good-will of the 
Faculty by any special means. 
FIVES. A kind of play with a ball against the side of a build- 
ing, resembling tennis ; so named, because three fives ox fifteen 
are counted to the game. — Smoi^t. 

A correspondent, writing of Centre College, Ky., says: 
" Fives was a game very much in vogue, at which the Pres- 
ident would often take a hand, and while the students would 
play for ice-cream or some other refreshment, he would never 
fail to come in for his share." 
FIZZLE. Plalliwell says : " The half-hiss, half-sigh of an ani- 
mal." In many colleges in the United States, this word is 
applied to a bad recitation, probably from the want of distinct 
articulation which usually attends such performances. It is 
further explained in the Yale Banger, November 10, 1846 ; 
" This figure of a wounded snake is intended to represent 
what in technical language is termed s, fizzle. The best judges 
have decided, that to get just one third of the meaning right 
constitutes 2i perfect fizzled 

With a mind and body so nearly at rest, that naught interrupted 
my inmost repose save cloudy reminiscences of a morning '■'■fizzle " 
and an afternoon " flunk," my tranquillity was sufficiently enviable. 
— Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XV. p. 114. 

Here he could fizzles mark without a sigh, 
And see orations unregarded die. 

The Tomahawk, Nov., 1849. 

Not a wail was heard, or a ^^ fizzle's " mild sigh. 
As his corpse o'er the pavement we hurried. 

The Gallinipper, Dec, 1849. 



AND CUSTOMS. 



203 



At Princeton College, the word blue is used with Jizzle, to 
render it intensive ; as, he made a hlue fizzle^ ]iq fizzled blue. 

FIZZLE. To fail in reciting ; to recite badly. A correspond- 
ent from Williams College says : " Flunk is the common 
word when some unfortunate man makes an utter failure in 
recitation. He fizzles when he stumbles through at last." 
Another from Union writes : " If you have been lazy, you 
will T^voh2ih\j fizzle." A writer in the Yale Literary Maga- 
zine thus humorously defines this word : " Fizzle. To rise 
with modest reluctance, to hesitate often, to decline finally ; 
generally, to misunderstand the question." — Vol. XIY. p. 
144. 

My dignity is outraged at beholding those yfho Jizzle and flunk in 
my presence tower above me. — The Yale Banger, Oct. 22, 1847. 
I "skinned," and ^'■fizzled" through. 

Presentation Day Songs, June 14, 1854. 

The verb to fizzle out, which is used at the West, has a 
little stronger signification, viz. to be quenched, extinguished ; 
to prove a failure. — Bartlet^s Diet. Americanisms. 

The factious and revolutionary action of the fifteen has inter- 
rupted the regular business of the Senate, disgraced the actors, and 
fizzled out. — Cincinnati Gazette. 

2. To cause one to fail in reciting. Said of an instruc- 
tor. 

Fizzle him tenderly, 

Bore him with care, 
Fitted so slenderly. 

Tutor, beware. 

Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XIII. p. 321. 

FIZZLING. Reciting badly ; the act of making a poor reci- 
tation. 

Of this word, a waiter jocosely remarks : " Fizzling is a 
somewhat /ree translation of an intricate sentence; proving a 
proposition in geometry from a wrong figure. Fizzling is 
caused sometimes by a too hasty perusal of the pony, and 
generally by a total loss of memory when called upon to re- 
cite." — Sophomore Independent, Union College, Nov. 1854. 



204 COLLEGE WORDS 

Weather drizzling, 
FrQshmen Jizzling. 

Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XV. p. 212. 

FLAM, At the University of Vermont, in student phrase, to 
Jlam is to be attentive, at any time, to any lady or company 
of ladies. E. g. " He spends half his time flamming," i. e. 
in the society of the other sex. 

FLASH-IN-THE-PAN. A student is said to make a flash- 
in-the-pan when he commences to recite brilliantly, and sud- 
denly fails ; the latter part of such a recitation is a Fizzle. 
The metaphor is borrowed from a gun, which, after being 
primed, loaded, and ready to be discharged, flashes in the 
pan. 

FLOOR. Among collegians, to answer such questions as may 
be propounded concerning a given subject. 

Then Olmsted took hold, but he could n't make it go, 
For we floored the Bien. Examination. 

Presentation Day Songs, Yale Coll., June 14, 1854. 

To floor a paper, is to answer every question in it. — 
Bristed. 

Somehow I nearly floored the paper, and came out feeling much 
more comfortable than when I went in. — Bristed's Five Years in 
a?i Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 12. 

Our best classic had not time to floor ihe, paper. — Ihid., p. 135. 

FLOP. A correspondent from the University of Vermont 
writes : " Any ' cute ' performance by which a man is sold 
[deceived] is a good flop, and, by a phrase borrowed from 
the ball ground, is 'rightly played.' The discomfited indi- 
vidual declares that they ' are all on a side,' and gives up, or 
' rolls over ' by giving his opponent ' gowdy.' " " A man 
writes cards during examination to 'feeze the profs'; said 
cards are ' gumming cards,' and he flops the examination if 
he gets a good mark by the means." One usually j^ops his 
marks by feigning sickness. 

FLOP A TWENTY. At the University of Vermont, to /o/? 
a tiventy is to make a perfect recitation, twenty being the 
maximum mark for scholarship. 



AND CUSTOMS. 205 

FLUMMUX. Any failure is called a flummux. In some col- 
leges the word is particularly applied to a poor recitation. 
At Williams College, a failure on the play-ground is called a 
flummux. 

FLUMMUX. To fail ; to recite badly. Mr. Bartlett, in his 
Dictionary of Americanisms, has the word flummix, to be 
overcome ; to be frightened ; to give way to. 

Perhaps Parson Hyme did n't put it into Pokerville for two mor- 
tal hours ; and perhaps Pokerville did n't mizzle, wince, and finally 
fiummix right beneath him. — Fields Drama in Pokerville. 

FLUNK. This word is used in some American colleges to de- 
note a complete failure in recitation. 

This, 0, [signifying neither beginning nor end,] Tutor H 

said meant a perfect yZwnL — The Yale Banger, Nov. 10, 1846. 

I 've made some twelve or fourteen flunks. — Tlie Gallinipper^ 
Dec. 1849. 

And that bold man must bear a flunk, or die, 
- Who, when John pleased be captious, dared reply. 

Yale Tomahawk, Nov. 1849. 
The Sabbath dawns upon the poor student burdened with the 
thought of the lesson, or flunk of the morrow morning. — Ibid., 
Feb. 1851. 

He thought 

First of his distant home and parents, tunc, 
Of tutors' note-books, and the morrow's flunk. 

Ibid., Feb. 1851. 
In moody meditation sunk, 
Eeflecting on my future flunk. 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 54. 
And so, in spite of scrapes and flunks, 
I '11 have a sheep-skin too. 

Presentation Bay Songs, June 14, 1854. 
Some amusing anecdotes are told, such as the well-known one 
about the lofty dignitary's macaronic injunction, " Exclude canem, 
et shut the door " ; and another of a tutor's dismal flunk on faba. — 
Harv. Mag., Vol. L p. 263. 

FLUNK. To make a complete failure when called on to re- 
cite. A writer in the Yale Literary Magazine defines it, 
18 



206 COLLEGE WORDS 

" to decline peremptorily, and then to whisper, ' I had it all, 
except that confounded little place.' " — ^Vol. XIV. p. 144. 

They know that a man who has flunked^ because too much of a 
genius to get his lesson, is not in a state to appreciate joking. — 
Amherst Indicator, Vol. I. p. 253. 

Nestor was appointed to deliver a poem, but most ingloriously 
flunked. — Ibid., Vol. I. p. 256. 

The phrase to flunk out, which Bartlett, in his Dictionary 
of Americanisms, defines, "to retire through fear, to back 
out," is of the same nature as the above word. 

Why, httle one, you must be cracked, if jou. flunk out before we 
begin. — J. C. Neal. 

It was formerly used in some American colleges as is now 
the word flunk. 

We must have, at least, as many subscribers as there are students 
in College, or ^^ flunk out:'— The Crayon, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 3. 

FLUNKEY. In college parlance, one who makes a complete 
failure at recitation ; one who flunks. 

1 bore him safe through Horace, 
Saved him from the flunkey's doom. 

Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XX. p. 76. 

FLUNKING. Failing completely in reciting. 

Flunking so gloomily, 
Crushed by contumely. 

Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XIII. p. 322. 
We made our earliest call while the man first called up in the 
division-room was deliberately and gracefully ^^ flunking." — Ibid., 
VoLXIVp. 190. 

See what a spot a, flunking Soph'more made ! 

Yale Gallinipper, Nov. 1848. 

FLUNKOLOGY. A farcical word, designed to express the 
science oi flunking. 

The scholarship, is awarded to the student in each Fresh- 
man Class who passes the poorest examination in Flunkology. — 
Burlesque Catalogue, Yale Coll., 1852-53, p. 28. 

FOOTBALL. For many years, the game of football has been 
the favorite amusement at some of the American colleges. 



AND CUSTOMS. 207 

during certain seasons of the year. At Harvard and Yale, 
it is customary for the Sophomore Class to challenge the 
Freshmen to a trial game, soon after their entrance into Col- 
lege. The interest excited on this occasion is always very 
great, the Seniors usually siding with the former, and the 
Juniors with the latter class. The result is generally in favor 
of the Sophomores. College poets and prose-writers have 
often chosen the game of football as a topic on which to exer- 
cise their descriptive powers. One invokes his muse, in imi- 
tation of a great poet, as follows : — 

" The Freshmen's wrath, to Sophs the direful spring 
Of shins unnumbered bruised, great goddess, sing ! " 

Another, speaking of the size of the ball in ancient times 
compared with what it is at present, says : — 

" A baU like this, so monstrous and so hard, 
Six eager Freshmen scarce could kick a yard ! " 

Further compositions on this subject are to be found in the 
Harvard Register, Harvardiana, Yale Banger, &c. 

See Wrestling-Match. 
FORENSIC. A written argument, maintaining either the 
affirmative or the negative side of a question. 

In Harvard College, the two senior classes are required to 
write forensics once in every four weeks, on a subject as- 
signed by the Professor of Moral Philosophy ; these they 
read before him and the division of the class to which they 
i)elong, on appointed days. It was formerly customary for 
ihe teacher to name those who were to write on the affirma- 
tive and those on the negative, but it is now left optional 
with the student which side he will take. This word was 
originally used as an ad(jective, and it was usual to speak of a 
brensic dispute, which has now been shortened mio forensic. 

For every unexcused omission of a forensic, or of reading a 
forensic, a deduction shall be made of the highest number of marks 
to which that exercise is entitled. Seventy-two is the highest mark 
for forensics. — Laws of Univ. at Cam., Mass., 1848. 

What with themes, forensics, letters, memoranda, notes on lee- 



208 COLLEGE WORDS 

tures, verses, and articles, I find myself considerably hurried. — 
Collegian, 1830, p. 241. 

When 
I call to mind Forensics numberless. 
With arguments so grave and erudite, 
I never understood their force myself, 
But trusted that my sage instructor would. 

Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 403. 

FORK ON. At Hamilton College, to fork on, to appropriate 
to one's self. 

FORTS. At Jefferson and at Washington Colleges in Penn- 
sylvania, the boarding-houses for the students are called fo7is. 

FOUNDATION. A donation or legacy appropriated to sup- 
port an institution, and constituting a permanent fund, usually 
for a charitable purpose. — Webster. 

In America it is also applied to a donation or legacy appro- 
priated especially to maintain poor and deserving, or other 
students, at a college. 

In the selection of candidates for the various beneficiary /ownc/a- 

tions, the preference will be given to those who are of exemplary 

conduct and scholarship. — Laws of Univ. at Cam,, Mass., 1848, p. 19. 

Scholars on this foundation are to be called " scholars of the 

house." — Sketches of Yale Coll., p. 86. 

FOUNDATIONER. One who derives support from the funds 
or foundation of a college or a great schooL — Jackson. 
This word is not in use in the United States. 
See Beneficiary. 
FOUNDATION SCHOLAR. At the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., a scholar who enjoys certain privileges, and who 
is of that class whence Fellows are taken. 

Of the scholars of this name, Bristed remarks : " The ta- 
ble nearer the door is filled by students in the ordinary Un- 
dergraduate blue gown ; but from the better service of their 
table, and perhaps some little consequential air of their own, 
it is plain that they have something peculiar to boast of. 
They are the Foundation Scholars, from whom the future 
Fellows are to be chosen, in the proportion of about one out 



AND CUSTOMS. 209 

of three. Their Scholarships are gained by examination in 
the second or third year, and entitle them to a pecuniary 
allowance from the college, and also to their commons gratis 
(these latter subject to certain attendance at and service in 
chapel), a first choice of rooms, and some other little privi- 
leges, of which they are s.omewhat proud, and occasionally 
they look as if conscious that some Don may be saying to a 
chance visitor at the high table, ' Those over yonder are the 
scholars, the best men of their year.' " — Five Years in an 
Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 20. 
FOX. In the German universities, a student during the first 
half-year is called a Fox (Fuchs), the same as Freshman. 
To this the epithet nasty is sometimes added. 

On this subject, Howitt remarks : " On entering the Uni- 
versity, he becomes a Kameel, — a Camel. This happy tran- 
sition-state of a few weeks gone by, he comes forth finally, on 
entering a Chore, a Fox, and runs joyfully into the new 
Burschen life. During the first semester or half-year, he is a 
gold fox, which means, that he hd^s foxes, or rich gold in plen- 
ty yet ; or he is a Grass-fuchs, or fat fox, meaning that he yet 
swells or puffs himself up with gold." — Student Life of Ger- 
many, Am. ed., p. 124. 

" Halloo there, Herdman,/oa; / " yelled another lusty tippler, and 
Herdman, thus appealed to, arose and emptied the contents of his 
glass. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XII. p. 116. 

At the same moment, a door at the end of the hall was thrown 
open, and a procession of new-comers, or Nasty Foxes ^ as they are 
called in the college dialect, entered two by two, looking wild, and 
green, and foolish. — Longfellow's Hyperion, p. 109. 

See also in the last-mentioned work the Fox song. 
FREEZE. A correspondent from Wilhams College writes: 
" But by far the most expressive word in use among us is 
Freeze. The meaning of it might be felt, if, some cold morn- 
ing, you would place your tender hand upon some frosty 
door-latch ; it would be a striking specimen on the part of the 
door-latch of what we mean by Freeze. Thus we freeze to 
apples in the orchards, to fellows whom we electioneer for in 
18* 



210 COLLEGE WORDS 

our secret societies, and alas ! some even go so far as to freeze 
to the ladies." 

"Now, boys," said Bob, ^'■freeze on" and at it tliey went. — Yale 
Lit. Mag., Vol. XII. p. 111. 

FRESH. An abbreviation for Freshman or Freshmen ; 
Freshes is sometimes used for the plural. 

When Sophs met Fresh, power met opposing power. 

Harv. Reg., p. 251. 
The Sophs did nothing all the first fortnight but torment the 
Fresh, as they call us. — Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 76. 

Listen to the low murmurings of some annihilated Fresh upon 
• the Delta. — Oraiww before H. L. of I. 0. of 0. F., 1848. 

FRESH. Newly come ; likewise, awkward, like a Freshman. 
— Grad. ad Cantab. 

For their behavior at table, spitting and coughing, and speaking 
loud, was counted uncivil in any but a gentleman ; as we say in the 
university, that nothing is fresh in a Senior, and to him it was a 
glory. — Archoeol. Atticce, Edit. Oxon., 1675, B. VI. 

FRESHMAN, pi Freshmen. In England, a student during 
his first year's residence at the university. In America, one 
who belongs to the youngest of the four classes in college, 
called the Freshman Glass. — Webster, 

FRESHMAN. Pertaining to a Freshman, or to the class 
called Freshman. 

FRESHMAN, BUTLER'S. At Harvard and Yale Colleges, 
a Freshman, formerly hired by the Butler, to perform certain 
duties pertaining to his office, was called by this name. 

The Butler may be allowed a Freshman, to do the foregoing du- 
ties, and to deliver articles to the students from the Buttery, who 
shall be appointed by the President and Tutors, and he shall be al- 
lowed the same provision in the Hall as the Waiters ; and he shall 
not be charged in the Steward's quarter-bills under the heads of 
Steward and Instruction and Sweepers, Catalogue and Dinner. — 
Laws of Harv. Coll., 1798, p. 61. 

With being butler's freshman, and ringing the bell the first year, 
waiter the three last, and keeping school in the vacations, I rubbed 
through. — The Algerine Captive, Walpole, 1797, Vol. I. p. 54. 
See Butler, Buttery. 



AND CUSTOMS. 211 

FRESHMAN CLUB. At Hamilton College, it is customary 
for the new Sophomore Class to present to the Freshmen at 
the commencement of the first term a heavy cudgel, six feet 
long, of black walnut, brass bound, with a silver plate in- 
scribed ^'Freshman Gluh^ The club is given to the one 
who can hold it out at arm's length the longest time, and the 
presentation is accompanied with an address from one of the 
Sophomores in behalf of his class. He who receives the club 
is styled the " leader." The " leader " having been declared, 
after an appropriate speech from a Freshman appointed for 
that purpose, " the class," writes a correspondent, " form a 
procession, and march around the College yard, the leader 
carrying the club before them. A trial is then made by 
the class of the virtues of the club, on the Chapel door." 

FRESHMAN, COLLEGE. In Harvard University, a mem- 
ber of the Freshman Class, whose duties are enumerated 
below. " On Saturday, after the exercises, any student not 
specially prohibited may go out of town. If the students 
thus going out of town fail to return so as to be present at 
evening prayers, they must enter their names with the Col- 
lege Freshman within the hour next preceding the evening 
study bell ; and all students who shall be absent from evening 
prayers on Saturday must in like manner enter their names." 
— Statutes and Laws of the Univ. in Gam., Mass., 1825, p. 42. 
The College Freshman lived in No. 1, Massachusetts Hall, 
and was commonly called the hooh-heeper. The duties of this 
office are now performed by one of the Proctors. 

FRESHMANHOOD. The state of a Freshman, or the time 
in which one is a Freshman, which is in duration a year. 
But yearneth not thy laboring heart, O Tom, 
For those dear hours of simple Freshmanhood ? 

Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 405. 
When to the college I came, in the first dear day of my freshhood, 
Like to the school we had left I imagined the new situation. 

Ibid., Vol. III. p. 98. 

FRESHMANIC. Pertaining to a Freshman; resembling a 
Freshman, or his condition. 



212 COLLEGE WORDS 

The Junior Class had heard of our miraculous doings, and as- 
serted with that peculiar dignity which should at all times excite 
terror and awe in the Freshmanic breast, that they would counte- 
nance no such proceedings. — Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 316. 

I do not pine for those Freshmanic days. — Ihid., Vol. III. p. 405. 

FRESHMEN, PARIETAL. In Harvard College, the mem- 
ber of the Freshman Class who gives notice to those whom 
the chairman of the Parietal Committee wishes to see, is 
known by the name of the Parietal Freshman. For his ser- 
vices he receives about forty dollars per annum, and the rent 
of his room. 

FRESHMAN, PRESIDENT'S. A member of the Fresh- 
man Class who performs the official errands of the President, 
for which he receives the same compensation as the Parie- 
tal Freshman. 

Then Bibo kicked his carpet thrice, 
Which brought his Freshman in a trice. 
" You little rascal ! go and call 
The persons mentioned in this scroll." 
The fellow, hearing, scarcely feels 
The ground, so quickly fly his heels. 

Rehelliad, p. 27. 
FRESHMAN, REGENT'S. In Harvard College, a member 
of the Freshman Class whose duties are given below. 

" When any student shall return to town, after having had 
leave of absence for one night or more, or after any vacation, 
he shall apply to the Regent's Freshman, at his room, to enter 
the time of his return ; and shall tarry till he see it entered. 

" The Regent's Freshman is not charged under the heads 
of Steward, Instruction, Sweepers, Catalogue, and Dinner.'* 
— Laws ofHarv. Coll, 1816, pp. 46, 47. 
This office is now abolished. 
FRESHMAN'S BIBLE. Among collegians, the name by 
which the body of laws, the catalogue, or the calendar of a col- 
legiate institution is often designated. The significancy of the 
word Bible is seen, when the position in which the laws are 
intended to be regarded is considered. The Freshman is sup- 



AND CUSTOMS. 213 

posed to have studied and to be more familiar with the laws 
than any one else, hence the propriety of using his name in 
this connection. A copy of the laws are usually presented to 
each student on his entrance into college. 

Every year there issues from the warehouse of Messrs. Deighton, 
the publishers to the University of Cambridge, an octavo volume, 
bound in white canvas, and of a very periodical and business-like 
appearance. Among the Undergraduates it is commonly known 
by the name of the " Freshman's Bible" — the pubHc usually ask 
for the "University Calendar." — Westminster Rev., Am. ed., Vol. 
XXXV. p. 230. 

See College Bible. 

FRESHMAN SERVITUDE. The custom which formerly 
prevailed in the older American colleges of allowing the 
members of all the upper classes to send Freshmen upon 
errands, and in other ways to treat them as inferiors, appears 
at the present day strange and almost unaccountable. That 
our forefathers had reasons which they deemed sufficient, not 
only for allowing, but sanctioning, this subjection, we cannot 
doubt ; but what these were, we are not able to know from 
any accounts which have come down to us- from the past. 

" On attending prayers the first evening," says one who 
graduated at Harvard College near the close of the last cen- 
tury, " no sooner had the President pronounced the conclud- 
ing ' Amen,' than one of the Sophomores sung out, ' Stop, 
Freshmen, and hear the customs read.'" An account of 
these customs is given in President Quincy's History of Har- 
vard University, Vol. II. p. 539. It is entitled, 

"The Ancient Customs of Harvard College, es- 
tablished BY the Government of it." 

" 1. No Freshman shall wear his hat in the College yard, unless 
it rains, hails, or snows, provided he be on foot, and have not both 
hands full. 

"2. No Undergraduate shall wear his hat in the College yard 
when any of the Governors of the College are there ; and no Bach- 
elor shall wear his hat when the President is there. 

" 3. Freshmen are to consider all the other classes as their seniors. 



214 COLLEGE WORDS 

" 4. No Freshman shall speak to a Senior * •with his hat on, or 
have it on in a Senior's chamber, or in his own, if a Senior be 
there. 

" 5. All the Undergraduates shall treat those in the Government 
of the College with respect and deference ; particularly they shall 
not be seated without leave in their presence ; they shall be uncov- 
ered when they speak to them or are spoken to by them. 

" 6. All Freshmen (except those employed by the Immediate 
Government of the College) shall be obliged to go on any errand 
(except such as shall be judged improper by some one in the Gov- 
ernment of the College) for any of his Seniors, Graduates or Un- 
dergraduates, at any time, except in studying hours, or after nine 
o'clock in the evening. 

" 7. A Senior Sophister has authority to take a Freshman from a 
Sophomore, a Middle Bachelor from a Junior Sophister, a Master 
from a Senior Sophister, and any Governor of the College from a 
Master. 

" 8. Every Freshman before he goes for the person who takes 
him away (unless it be one in the Government of the College) shall 
return and inform the person from whom he is taken. - 

" 9. No Freshman, when sent on an errand, shall make any 
unnecessary delay, neglect to make due return, or go away till dis- 
missed by the person who sent him. 

" 10. No Freshman shall be detained by a Senior, when not 
actually employed on some suitable errand. 

"11. No Freshman shall be obliged to observe any order of a 
Senior to come to him, or go on any errand for him, unless he be 
wanted immediately. 

"12. No Freshman, when sent on an errand, shall tell who he is 
going for, unless he be asked ; nor be obliged to tell what he is going 
for, unless asked by a Governor of the College. 

" 13. When any person knocks at a Freshman's door, except in 
studying time, he shall immediately open the door, without inquir- 
ing who is there. 

" 14. No scholar shall call up or down, to or from, any chamber 
in the College. 

"15. No scholar shall play football or any other game in the 
College yard, or throw any thing across the yard. 

* Senior, as here used, indicates an officer of college, or a member of 
either of the three upper classes, agreeable to Custom No. 3, on page 213. 



AND CUSTOMS. 215 

"16. The Fresbnen shall furnish bats, balls, and footballs for 
the use of the students, to be kept at the Buttery. * 

" 1 7. Every Freshman shall pay the Butler for putting up his 
name in the Buttery. 

" 18. Strict attention shall be paid by all the students to the com- 
mon rules of cleanliness, decency, and politeness. 

" The Sophomores shall publish these customs to the Freshmen 
in the Chapel, whenever ordered by any in the Government of the 
College ; at which time the Freshmen are enjoined to keep their 
places in their seats, and attend with decency to the reading." 

At the close of a manuscript copy of the laws of Harvard 
College, transcribed by Richard Waldron, a graduate of the 
class of 1738, when a Freshman, are recorded the following 
regulations, which diiFer from those already cited, not only 
in arrangement, but in other respects. 

College Customs, Anno 1734-5. 

" 1. No Freshman shall ware his hat in the College yard except 
it rains, snows, or hails, or he be on horse back or haith both hands 
full. 

" 2. No Freshman shall ware his hat in his Seniors Chamber, or 
in his own if his Senior be there. 

" 3. No Freshman shall go by his Senior, without taking his hat 
of if it be on. 

*' 4. No Freshman shall intrude into his Seniors company. 

" 5. No Freshman shall laugh in his Seniors face. 

" 6. No Freshman shall talk saucily to his Senior, or speak to 
him with his hat on. 

" 7. No Freshman shall ask his Senior an impertinent question. 

'* 8. Freshmen are to take notice that a Senior Sophister can 
take a Freshman from a Sophimore,t a Middle Batcelour from a 
Junior Sophister, a Master from a Senior Sophister, and a Fellow | 
from a Master. 

" 9. Freshmen are to find the rest of the Scholars with bats, 
balls, and foot balls. 

" 10. Freshmen must pay three shillings a peice to the Butler to 
have there names set up in the Buttery. 

"11. No Freshman shall loiter by the [way] when he is sent of 



* The law in reference to footballs is still observed. 

t See Sophomore. j I. e. Tutor. 



216 COLLEGE WOKDS 

an errand, but shall make liast and give a direct answer when lie is 
asked who he is going [for] . No Freshman shall use lying or equiv- 
ocation to escape going of an errand. 

"12. No Freshman shall tell who [he] is going [for] except he 
be asked, nor for what except he be asked by a Fellow. 

"13. No Freshman shall go away when he haith been sent of an 
errand before he be dismissed, which may be understood by saying, 
it is well, I thank you, you may go, or the like. 

" 14. When a Freshman knocks at his Seniors door he shall tell 
[his] name if asked who. 

" 15. When anybody knocks at a Freshmans door, he shall not 
aske who is there, but shall immediately open the door. 

" 16. No Freshman shall lean at prayrs but shall stand upright. 

" 17. No Freshman shall call his classmate by the name of Fresh- 
men. 

" 18. No Freshman shall call up or down to or from his Seniors 
chamber or his own. 

"19. No Freshman shall call or 'throw anything across the Col- 
lege yard. 

" 20. No Freshman shall mingo against the College wall, nor go 
into the Fellows cus John.* 

"21. Freshmen may ware there hats at dinner and supper, ex- 
cept when they go to receive there Commons of bread and bear. 

" 22. Freshmen are so to carry themselves to there Seniors in all 
respects so as to be in no wise saucy to them, and who soever of the 
Freshmen shall brake any of these customs shall be severely pun- 
ished." 

Another manuscript copy of these singular regulations bears 
date September, 1741, and is entitled, 

" The Customs of Harvard College, which if the 
Freshmen don't observe and obey, they shall 

BE severely punished IF THEY HAVE HEARD THEM 
READ." 

" 1. No Freshman shall wear his hat in the College yard, except 
it rains, hails, or snows, he be on horseback, or hath both hands full. 

" 2. No Freshman shall pass by his Senior, without pulling his 
hat off. 

" 3. No Freshman shall be saucy to his Senior, or speak to hmi 
with his hat on. 

* Abbreviated for Cousin John, i. e. a privy. 



AND CUSTOMS. 217 

" 4. No Freshman shall laugh in his Senior's face. 

" 5. No Freshman shall ask his Senior any impertinent question. 

" 6, No Freshman shall intrude into his Senior's company. 

" 7. Freshmen are to take notice that a Senior Sophister can 
take a Freshman from a Sophimore, a Master from a Senior 
Sophister, and a Fellow from a Master. 

" 8. When a Freshman is sent of an errand, he shall not loiter 
by the way, but shall make haste, and give a direct answer if asked 
who he is going for. 

"9. No Freshman shall tell who he is a going for (unless asked), 
or what he is a going for, unless asked by a Fellow. 

" 10. No Freshman, when he is going of errands, shall go away, 
except he be dismissed, which is known by saying, ' It is well,' 
* You may go,' ' I thank you,' or the like. 

"11. Freshman are to find the rest of the scholars with bats, 
balls, and footballs. 

" 12. Freshmen shall pay three shillings to the Butler to have 
their names set up in the Buttery. 

" 13. No Freshman shall wear his hat in his Senior's chambers, 
nor in his own if his Senior be there. 

" 14. When anybody knocks at a Freshman's door, he shall not 
ask who is there, but immediately open the door. 

" 15. When a Freshman knocks at his Senior's door, he shall tell 
his name immediately. 

"16. No Freshman shall call his classmate by the name of Fresh- 
man. 

" 17. No Freshtoan shall call up or down, to or from his Senior's 
chamber or his own. 

" 18. No Freshman shall call or throw anything across the Col- 
lege yard, nor go into the Fellows' Cuz-John. 

" 19. No Freshman shall mingo against the College walls. 

" 20. Freshmen are to carry themselves, in all respects, as to be 
in no wise saucy to their Seniors. 

" 21. Whatsoever Freshman shall break any of these customs, he 
shall be severely punished." 

A written copy of these regulations in Latin, of a very 
early date, is still extant. They appear first in English, in 
the fourth volume of the Immediate Government Books, 
1781, p. 257. The two following laws — one of which was 
passed soon after the establishment of the CoUcge, the other 
19 



218 COLLEGE WORDS 

in the year 1734 — seem to have been the foundation of these 
rules. ''Nulli ex scholaribus senioribus, solis tutoribus et 
collegii sociis exceptis, recentem sive juniorem, ad itineran- 
dum, aut ad aliud quodvis faciendum, minis, verberibus, vel 
aliis modis impellere licebit. Et siquis non gradatus in banc 
legem peccaverit, castigatione corporali, expulsione, vel aliter, 
prout prsesidi cum sociis visum fuerit punietur." — Mather's 
Magnalia, B. IV. p. 133. 

" None belonging to the College, except the President, 
Fellows, Professors, and Tutors, shall by threats or blows 
compel a Freshman or any Undergraduate to any duty or 
obedience; and if any Undergraduate shall offend against 
this law, he shall be liable to have the privilege of sending 
Freshmen taken from him by the President and Tutors, or 
be degraded or expelled, according to the aggravation of the 
offence. Neither shall any Senior scholars. Graduates or 
Undergraduates, send any Freshman on errands in studying 
hours, without leave from one of the Tutors, his own Tutor 
if in College." — Peirce's Hist, Harv. Univ., App., p. 141. 

That this privilege of sending Freshmen on errands was 
abused in some cases, we see from an account of " a meet- 
ing of the Corporation in Cambridge, March 27th, 1682," at 
which time notice was given that "great complaints have 

been made and proved against , for his abusive carriage, 

in requiring some of the Freshmen to go upon his private er- 
rands, and in striking the said Freshmen." 

In the year 1772, " the Overseers having repeatedly rec- 
ommended abolishing the custom of allowing the upper classes 
to send Freshmen on errands, and the making of a law ex- 
empting them from such services, the Corporation voted, that, 
* after deliberate consideration and weighing all circumstances, 
they are not able to project any plan in the room of this long 
and ancient custom, that will not, in their opinion, be attended 
with equal, if not greater, inconveniences.' " It seems, how- 
ever, to have fallen into disuse, for a time at least, after this 
period ; for in June, 1786, " the retaining men or boys to per- 
form the services for which Freshmen had been heretofore 



AND CUSTOMS. 219 

employed," was declared to be a growing evil, and was pro- 
hibited by the Corporation. — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., 
Vol. I. p. 515 ; VoL 11. pp. 274, 277. 

The upper classes being thus forbidden to employ persons 
not connected with the College to wait upon them, the ser- 
vices of Freshmen were again brought into requisition, and 
they were not wholly exempted from menial labor until after 
the year 1800. 

Another service which the Freshmen were called on to 
perform, was once every year to shake the carpets of the 
Library and Philosophy Chamber in the Chapel. 

Those who refused to comply with these regulations were 
not allowed to remain in College, as appears from the follow- 
ing circumstance, which happened about the year 1790. A 
young man from the West Indies, of wealthy and highly re- 
spectable parents, entered Freshman, and soon after, being 
ordered by a member of one of the upper classes to go upon 
an errand for him, refused, at the same time saying, that if 
he had known it was the custom to require the lower class to 
wait on the other classes, he would have brought a slave with 
him to perform his share of these duties. In the common 
phrase of the day, he was hoisted, i. e. complained of to a 
tutor, and on being told that he could not remain at College 
if he did not comply with its regulations, he took up his con- 
nections and returned home. 

With reference to some of the observances which were in 
vogue at Harvard College in the year 1794, the recollections 
of Professor Sidney Willard are these : — 

" It was the practice, at the time of my entrance at College, 
for the Sophomore Class, by a member selected for the purpose, 
to communicate to the Freshmen, in the Chapel, * the Cus- 
toms,' so called ; the Freshmen being required to ' keep their 
places in their seats, and attend with decency to the reading.' 
These customs had been handed down from remote times, with 
some modifications not essentially changing them. Not many 
days after our seats were assigned to us in the Chapel, we 
were directed to remain after evening prayers and attend to 



220 COLLEGE WORDS 

the reading of the customs ; which direction was accordingly 
complied with, and they were read and listened to with deco- 
rum and gravity. Whether the ancient customs of outward 
respect, which forbade a Freshman ' to wear his hat in the 
College yard, unless it rains, hails, or snows, provided he be 
on foot, and have not both hands full,' as if the ground on 
which he trod and the atmosphere around him were conse- 
crated, and the article which extends the same prohibition to 
all undergraduates, when any of the governors of the College 
are in the yard, were read, I cannot say ; but I think they 
were not ; for it would have disturbed that gravity which I 
am confident was preserved during the whole reading. These 
prescripts, after a long period of obsolescence, had become 
entirely obsolete. 

" The most degrading item in the list of customs was that 
which made Freshmen subservient to all the other classes ; 
which obliged those who were not employed by the Imme- 
diate Government of the College to go on any errand, not 
judged improper by an officer of the government, or in study 
hours, for any of the other classes, the Senior having the 

prior right to the service The privilege of claiming 

such service, and the obligation, on the other hand, to per- 
form it, doubtless gave rise to much abuse, and sometimes to 
unpleasant conflict. A Senior having a claim to the service 
of a Freshman prior to that of the classes below them, it had 
become a practice not uncommon, for a Freshman to obtain a 
Senior, to whom, as a patron and friend, he acknowledged and 
avowed a permanent service due, and whom he called his 
Senior by way of eminence, thus escaping the demands that 
might otherwise be made upon him for trivial or unpleasant 
errands. The ancient custom was never abolished by author- 
ity, but died with the change of feeling ; so that what might 
be demanded as a right came to be asked as a favor, and the 
right was resorted to only as a sort of defensive weapon, as a 
rebuke of a supposed impertinence, or resentment of a real in- 
jury." — Memories of Youth and Manhood, Vol. I. pp. 258, 259. 

The following account of this system, as it formerly ob- 



AND CUSTOMS. 221 

tained at Yale College, is from President Woolsey's Histor- 
ical Discourse before the Graduates of that Institution, Aug. 
14, 1850: — 

"Another remarkable particular in the old system here 
was the servitude of Freshmen, — for such it really deserved 
to be called. The new-comers — as if it had been to try 
their patience and endurance in a novitiate before being re- 
ceived into some monastic order — were put into the hands 
of Seniors, to be reproved and instructed in manners, and 
were obliged to run upon errands for the members of all the 
upper classes. And all this was very gravely meant, and 
continued long in use. The Seniors considered it as a part of 
the system to initiate the ignorant striplings into the college 
system, and performed it with the decorum of dancing-mas- 
ters. And, if the Freshmen felt the burden, the upper classes 
who had outlived it, and were now reaping the advantages of 
it, were not willing that the custom should die in their time. 

" The following paper, printed I cannot tell when, but as 
early as the year 1764, gives information to the Freshmen 
in regard to their duty of respect towards the officers, and 
towards the older students. It is entitled ' Freshman 
Lav^s,' and is perhaps part of a book of customs which 
was annually read for the instruction of new-comers. 

" ' It being the duty of the Seniors to teach Freshmen the laws, 
usages, and customs of the College, to this end they are empowered 
to order the whole Freshman Class, or any particular member of it, 
to appear, in order to be instructed or reproved, at such time and 
place as they shall appoint ; when and where every Freshman shall 
attend, answer all proper questions, and behave decently. The 
Seniors, however, are not to detain a Freshman more than five 
minutes after study bell, without special order from the President, 
Professor, or Tutor. 

" ' The Freshmen, as well as all other Undergraduates, are to be 
uncovered, and are forbidden to wear their hats (unless In stormy 
weather) in the front door-yard of the President's or Professor's 
house, or within ten rods of the person of the President, eight rods 
of the Professor, and five rods of a Tutor. : . , . \ :. . 

"'The Freshmen are forbidden to wear their hats in College 
19* 



222 COLLEGE WORDS 

yard (except in stormy weather, or when they are obliged to carry 
something in their hands) until May vacation ; nor shall they after- 
wards wear them in College or Chapel. 

" *No Freshman shall wear a gown, or walk with a cane, or ap- 
pear out of his room without being completely dressed, and with his 
hat ; and whenever a Freshman either speaks to a superior or is 
spoken to by one, he shall keep his hat ofi' until he is bidden to put 
it on. A Freshman shall not play with any members of an upper 
class, without being asked ; nor is he permitted to use any acts of 
familiarity with them, even in study time. 

" ' In case of personal insult, a Junior may call up a Freshman 
and reprehend him. A Sophomore, in like case, must obtain leave 
from a Senior, and then he may discipline a Freshman, not detaining 
him more than five minutes, after which the Freshman may retire, 
even without being dismissed, but must retire in a respectful manner. 

" ' Freshmen are obliged to perform all reasonable errands for 
any superior, always returning an account of the same to the per- 
son who sent them. AVhen called, they shall attend and give a re- 
spectful answer ; and when attending on their superior, they are 
not to depart until regularly dismissed. They are responsible for 
all damage done to anything put into their hands by way of errand. 
They are not obliged to go for the Undergraduates in study time, 
without permission obtained from the authority ; nor are they 
obliged to go for a graduate out of the yard in study time. A 
Senior may take a Freshman from a Sopliimore, a Bachelor from a 
Junior, and a Master from a Senior. None may order a Freshman, 
in one play time, to do an errand in another. 

" ' When a Freshman is near a gate or door belonging to CoUege 
or College yard, he shall look around and observe whether any of 
his superiors are coming to the same ; and if any are coming within 
three rods, he shall not enter without a signal to proceed. In pass- 
ing up or down stairs, or through an entry or any other narrow 
passage, if a Freshman meets a superior, he shall stop and give 
way, leaving the most convenient side, — if on the stairs, the ban- 
ister side. Freshmen shall not run in College yard, or up or down 
stairs, or call to any one through a College window. When going 
into the chamber of a superior, they shall knock at the door, and 
shall leave it as they find it, whether open or shut. Upon entering 
the chamber of a superior, they shall not speak until spoken to ; 
they shall reply modestly to all questions, and perform their mes- 
decently and respectfully. They shall not tarry in a supe- 



AND CUSTOMS. 228 

rior's room, after they are dismissed, unless asked to sit. They shall 
always rise whenever a superior enters or leaves the room where 
they are, and not sit in his presence until permitted. 

" ' These rules are to be observed, not only about College, but 
everywhere else within the limits of the city of New Haven.* 

" This is certainly a very remarkable document, one which 
it requires some faith to look on as originating in this land of 
universal suffrage, in the same century with the Declaration 
of Independence. He who had been moulded and reduced 
into shape by such a system might soon become expert in the 
punctilios of the court of Louis the Fourteenth. 

"This system, however, had more tenacity of life than 
might be supposed. In 1800 we still find it laid down as the 
Senior's duty to inspect the manners and customs of the lower 
classes, and especially of the Freshmen ; and as the duty of 
the latter to do any proper errand, not only for the authorities 
of the College, but also, within the limits of one mile, for Res- 
ident Graduates and for the two upper classes. By degrees 
the old usage sank down so far, that what the laws permitted 
was frequently abused for the purpose of playing tricks upon 
the inexperienced Freshmen ; and then all evidence of its 
ever having been current disappeared from the College code. 
The Freshmen were formally exempted from the duty of run- 
ning upon errands in 1804." — pp. 54-56. 

Among the " Laws of Yale College," published in 1774, 
appears the following regulation ; " Every Freshman is ob- 
liged to do any proper Errand or Message, required of him 
by any one in an upper class, which if he shall refuse to do, 
he shall be punished. Provided that in Study Time no Gradu- 
ate may send a Freshman out of College Yard, or an Under- 
graduate send him anywhere at all without Liberty first 
obtained of the President or Tutor." — pp. 14, 15. 

In a copy of the " Laws " of the above date, which for- 
merly belonged to Amasa Paine, who entered the Freshman 
Class at Yale in 1781, is to be found a note in pencil ap- 
pended to the above regulation, in these words : " This Law 
was annulled -when Dr. [Matthew] Marvin, Dr. M. J. Ly- 



224 COLLEGE WORDS 

man, John D. Dickinson, William Bradley, and Amasa Paine 
were classmates, and [they] claimed the Honor of abolishing 
it." The first three were graduated at Yale in the class of 
1785 ; Bradley was graduated at the same college in 1784, 
and Paine, after spending three years at Yale, was graduated 
at Harvard College in the class of 1785. 

As a part of college discipline, the upper classes were some- 
times deprived of the privilege of employing the services of 
Freshmen. The laws on this subject were these : — 

" If any Scholar shall write or publish any scandalous Libel 
about the President, a Fellow, Professor, or Tutor, or shall treat 
any one of them with any reproachful or reviling Language, 
or behave obstinately, refractorily, or contemptuously towards 
either of them, or be guilty of any Kind of Contempt, he may 
be punished by Fine, Admonition, be deprived the Liberty of 
sending Freshmen for a Time ; by Suspension from all the 
Privileges of College ; or Expulsion, according as the Nature 
and Aggravation of the Crime may require." 

" If any Freshman near the Time of Commencement shall 
fire the great Guns, or give or promise any Money, Counsel, 
or Assistance towards their being fired ; or shall illuminate 
College with Candles, either on the Inside or Outside of the 
Windows, or exhibit any such Kind of Show, or dig or scrape 
the College Yard otherwise than with the Liberty and accord- 
ing to the Directions of the President in the Manner formerly 
practised, or run in the College Yard in Company, they shall 
be deprived the Privilege of sending Freshmen three Months 
after the End of the Year." — Laws Yale Coll., 1774, pp. 13, 
25, 26. 

To the latter of these laws, a clause was subsequently added, 
declaring that every Freshman who should " do anything un- 
suitable for a Freshman " should be deprived of the privilege 
" of sending Freshmen on errands, or teaching them manners, 
during the first three months of his Sophomore year." — 
Laws Yale Coll., 1787, in Yale Lit. Maff., Yol. XIL p. 140. 

In the Sketches of Yale College, p. 174, is the following 
anecdote, relating to this subject: — " A Freshman was once 



AND CUSTOMS. 225 

furnished with a dollar, and ordered by one of the upper 
classes to procure for him pipes and tobacco, from the farthest 
store on Long Wharf, a good mile distant. Being at that 
time compelled by College laws to obey the unreasonable de- 
mand, he proceeded according to orders, and returned with 
ninety-nine cents' worth of pipes and one pennyworth of 
tobacco. It is needless to add that he was not again sent on 
a similar errand." 

The custom of obhging the Freshmen to run on errands 
for the Seniors was done away with at Dartmouth College, 
by the class of 1797, at the close of their Freshman year, 
when, having served their own time out, they presented a 
petition to the Trustees to have it abolished. 

In the old laws of Middlebury College are the two follow- 
ing regulations in regard to Freshmen, which seem to breathe 
the same spirit as those cited above. " Every Freshman 
shall be obliged to do any proper errand or message for the 
Authority of the College." — " It shall be the duty of the Se- 
nior Class to inspect the manners of the Freshman Class, and 
to instruct them in the customs of the College, and in that 
graceful and decent behavior toward superiors, which polite- 
ness and a just and reasonable subordination require." — 
Laws, 1804, pp. 6, 7. 

FRESHMANSHIP. The state of a Freshman. 

A man who had been my fellow-pupil with him from the begin- 
ning of our FreshmansJiip, would meet him there. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 150. 

FRESHMAN'S LANDMARK. At Cambridge, Eng., King's 
College Chapel is thus designated. " This stupendous edifice 
may be seen for several miles on the London road, and indeed 
from most parts of the adjacent country." — Grad. ad Cantab. 

FRESHMAN, TUTOR'S. In Harvard College, the Freshman 
who occupies a room under a Tutor. He is required to do 
the errands of the Tutor which relate to College, and in re- 
turn has a high choice of rooms in his Sophomore year. 

The same remarks, mutatis mutandis, apply to the Proc- 
tor's Freshman. 



226 COLLEGE WORDS 

FRESH-SOPH. An abbreviation of Freshman^ Sophomore. 
One who enters college in the Sophomore year, having passed 
the time of the Freshman year elsewhere. 

I was a Fresli-Sopliomore then, and a waiter in the commons' hall. 
— Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XIL p. 114. 

FROG. In Germany, a student while in the gymnasium, and 
before entering the university, is called a Frosch, — a frog. 

FUNK. Disgust ; weariness ; fright. A sensation sometimes 
experienced by students in view of an examination. 

In Cantab phrase I was suffering examination funk. — Bristed^s 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 61. 

A singular case of fuiik occurred at this examination. The man 
who would have been second, took fright when four of the six days 
were over, and fairly ran away, not only from the examination, 
but out of Cambridge, and was not discovered by his friends or 
family till some time after. — Ibid., p. 125. 

One of our Scholars, who stood a much better chance than my- 
self, gave up from mere funk, and resolved to go out in the Poll. — 
Ibid., p. 229. 

2. Fear or sensibility to fear. The general application of 
the term. 

So my friend's first fault is timidity, which is only not recognized 
as such on account of its vast proportions. I grant, then, that the 
funk is sublime, which is a true and friendly admission. — A letter 
to. the N. Y. Tribune, in Lit. World, Nov. 30, 1850. 



G. 

GAS. To impose upon another by a consequential address, or 
by detailing improbable stories or using " great swelling 
words " ; to deceive ; to cheat. 

Found that Fairspeech only wanted to " gas " me, which he did 
pretty effectually. — Sketches of Williams College, p. 72. 



AND CUSTOMS. 



227 



GATE BILL. In the English universities, the record of a 
pupil's failures to be within his college at or before a specified 
hour of the night. 

To avoid gate-bills, he will be out at night as late as he pleases, 
and will defy any one to discover his absence ; for he will climb 
over the college walls, and fee his Gyp well, when he is out all 
night. — Grad. ad Cantab.,^. 128. 

GATED. At the English universities, students who, for mis- 
demeanors, are not permitted to be out of their college after 
ten in the evening, are said to be gated. 

" Gated" i. e. obliged to be within the college walls by ten 
o'clock at night ; by this he is prevented from partaking in suppers, 
or other nocturnal festivities, in any other college or in lodgings. — ■ 
Note to The College, in Blackwood's Mag., May, 1849. 

The lighter college offences, such as staying out at night or miss- 
ing chapel, are punished by what they term " gating " ; in one form 
of which, a man is actually confined to his rooms : in a naore mUd 
way, he is simply restricted to the precincts of the college. — West- 
minster Rev., Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 241. 

GAUDY. In the University of Oxford, a feast or festival. 
The days on which they occur are called gaudies or gaudy 
days. " Blount, in his Glossographia," says Archdeacon 
Nares in his Glossary, " speaks of a foolish derivation of the 
word from a Judge Gaudy, said to have been the institutor of 
such days. But such days were held in all times, and did not 
want a judge to invent them." 

Come, 
Let 's have one other gaudy night : call to me 
All my sad captains ; fill our bowls ; once more 
Let 's mock the midnight bell. 

Antony and Cleopatra, Act. III. Sc. 11. 
A foolish utensil of state. 
Which like old plate upon a gaudy day, 
's brought forth to make a show, and that is all. 

GoMins, Old Play, X. 143. 
Edmund Riche, called of Pontigny, Archbishop of Canterbury. 
After his death he was canonized by Pope Innocent V., and his 



228 COLLEGE WORDS 

day in the calendar, 16 Nov., was formerly kept as a '■'gaudy" by 
tlie members of the hall. — Oxford Guide, Ed. 1847, p. 121. 

2. An entertainment ; a treat ; a spree. 

Cut lectures, go to chapel as little as possible, dine in hall seldom 
more than once a week, give Gaudies and spreads. — Gradus ad 
Cantab., p. 122. 

GENTLEMAN-COMMONER. The highest class of Com- 
moners at Oxford University. Equivalent to a Cambridge 
Fellow- Commoner. 

Gentlemen Commoners " are eldest sons, or only sons, or 
men already in possession of estates, or else (which is as com- 
mon a case as all the rest put together), they are the heirs of 
newly acquired wealth, — sons of the nouveaux riches "; they 
enjoy a privilege as regards the choice of rooms ; associate at 
meals with the Fellows and other authorities of the College ; 
are the possessors of two gowns, " an undress for the morn- 
ing, and a full dress-gown for the evening," both of which are 
made of silk, the latter being very elaborately ornamented ; 
wear a cap, covered with velvet instead of cloth ; pay double 
caution money, at entrance, viz. fifty guineas, and are charged 
twenty guineas a year for tutorage, twice the amount of the 
usual fee. — Compiled from De Quincey's Life and Manners, 
pp. 278 - 280. 

GET UP A SUBJECT. See Subject. 

This was the fourth time I had begun Algebra, and essayed with 
no weakness of purpose to get it up properly. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 157. 

GILL. The projecting parts of a standing collar are, from 
their situation, sometimes denominated gills. 

But, O, what rage his maddening bosom fills ! 
Far worse than dust-soiled coat are ruined '^ gills." 
Poem before the Class of 1S2S, Harv. Coll., by J. C. Richmond, p. 6. 
GOBBLE. At Yale College, to seize ; to lay hold of; to ap- 
propriate ; nearly the same as to collar, q. v. 
Alas ! how dearly for the fun they paid. 
Whom the Profis gobbled, and the Tutors too. 

The Gallinipper, Dec. 1849. 



AND CUSTOMS. Z2» 

I never gobbled one poor flat, 

To cheer me witli his soft dark eye, &c. 

Yale Tomahawk, Nov. 1849. 

I went and performed, and got through the burning, 
But oh ! and alas ! I was gobbled returning. 

Yale Banger, Nov. 1850. 
Upon that night, in the broad street, v*^as I by one of the brain- 
deficient men gobbled. — Yale Battery, Feb. 1850. 

Then shout for the hero who gobbles the prize. 

So7igs of Yale, 1853, p. 39. 

At Cambridge, Eng., this word is used in the phrase goh- 
hling Greek, i. e. studying or speaking that tongue. 

Ambitious to " gobble " his Greek in the haute rtionde. — Alma 
Mater, Vol. I. p. 79. 

It was now ten o'clock, and up stairs we therefore flew to gobble 
Greek with Professor . — Ibid., Vol. I. p. 127. 

You may have seen him, traversing the grass-plots, '■'•gobbling 
Greek" to himself. — /6id, Vol. I. p. 210. 

GOLGOTHA. The place of a skull At Cambridge, Eng., 
in the University Church, " a particular part," says the 
Westminster Review, " is appropriated to the heads of the 
houses, and is called Golgotha therefrom, a name which the 
appearance of its occupants renders peculiarly fitting, inde- 
pendent of the pun." — Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 236. 

GONUS. A stupid fellow. 

He was a gonus ; perhaps, though, you don't know what gonus 
means. One day I heard a Senior call a fellow a gonus. " A 
what ? " said I. " A great gonus," repeated he. " Gonus," echoed 
I, " what 's that mean ? " " O," said he, " you re a Freshman 
and don't understand." A stupid fellow, a dolt, a boot-jack, an 
ignoramus, is called here a gonus. " All Freshmen," continued he 
gravely, " are gonuses." — The Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 116. 

If the disquisitionist should ever reform his habits, and turn his 
really brilHant talents to some good account, then future gonuses 
will swear by his name, and quote him in their daily maledictions 
of the appointment system. — Amherst Indicator, Vol. I. p. 76. 
The word goney, with the same meaning, is often used. 
20 



230 COLLEGE WORDS 

" How the goney swallowed it all, did n't he ? '' said Mr. Slick, 
with great glee. — Slick in England, Chap. XXI. 

Some on 'em were fools enough to believe the goney ; that 's a 
fact. — Ihid. 

GOOD FELLOW. At the University of Vermont, this term 
is used with a signification directly opposite to that which it 
usually has. It there designates a soft-brained boy ; one who 
is lacking in intellect, or, as a correspondent observes, "an 
epithetical fool." 

GOODY. At Harvard College, a woman who has the care of 
the students' rooms. The word seems to be an abbreviated 
form of the word goodwife. It has long been in use, as a 
low term of civility or sport, and in some cases with the sig- 
nification of a good old dame ; but in the sense above given 
it is believed to be peculiar to Harvard College. In early 
times, sweeper was in use instead of goody, and even now at 
Yale College the word sweep is retained. The words hed- 
maker at Cambridge, Eng., and gyp at Oxford, express the 
same idea. 

The Rebelliad, an epic poem, opens with an invocation to 
the Goody, as follows. 

Old Goody Muse ! on thee I call, 

Pro more, (as do poets all,) 

To string thy fiddle, wax thy bow, 

And scrape a ditty, jig, or so. 

Now don't wax wrathy, but excuse 

My calling you old Goody Muse ; 

Because " Old Goody " is a name 

Applied to every college dame. 
Aloft in pendent dignity, 

Astride her magic broom, 
And wrapt in dazzhng majesty. 

See ! see ! the Goody come ! — p. 11. 

Go on, dear Goody ! and recite 

The direful mishaps of the fight. — Ihid., p. 20. 

The Goodies hearing, cease to sweep, 

And listen ; while the cook-maids weep. — Ihid., p. 47. 

The Goody entered with her broom, 

To make his bed and sweep his room. — Ibid., p. 73, 



AND CUSTOMS. 231 

On opening tlie papers left to his care, lie found a request that 
his effects might be bestowed on his friend, the Goody^ who had 
been so attentive to him during his. declining hours. — Harvard 
Register, 1827-28, p. 86. 

I was interrupted by a low knock at my door, followed by the 
entrance of our old Goody, with a bundle of musty papers in her 
hand, tied round with a soiled red ribbon. — Collegian, 1830, p. 231 . 
"Were there any Goodies when you were in college, father ? Per- 
haps you did not call them by that name. They are nice old ladies 
(not so very nice, either), who come in every morning, after we 
have been to prayers, and sweep the rooms, and make the beds, 
and do all that sort of work. However, they don't much like their 
title, I find ; for I called one, the other day, Mrs. Goodie, thinking 
it was her real name, and she was as sulky as she could be. — Har- 
vardiana. Vol. HI. p. 76. 

Yet these half-emptied bottles shall I take. 
And, having purged them of this wicked stuff. 
Make a small present unto Goody Bush. 

lUd., Vol. m. p. 257. 
Header ! wert ever beset by a dun ? ducked by the Goody from 
thine own window, when " creeping like snail unwillingly " to 
morning prayers ? — Ihid., Vol. IV. p. 274. 
The crowd delighted 
Saw them, like Goodies, clothed in gowns of satin, 
Of silk or cotton. — Cliilde Harvard, p. 26, 1848. 
On the wall hangs a Horse-shoe I found in the street ; 
'T is the shoe that to-day sets in motion my feet ; 
Though its charms are all vanished this many a year, 
And not even my Goody regards it with fear. 

Tlie Horse-Slwe, a Poem, hy J. B. Felton, 1849, p. 4. 

A very clever elegy on the death of Goody Morse, who 

" For forty years or more 

contrived the while 

No little dust to raise " 
in the rooms of the students of Harvard College, is to be 
found in Harvardiana, Vol. I. p. 233. It was written by Mr. 
(afterwards Rev.) Benjamin Davis Winslow. In the poem 
which he read before his class in the University Chapel at 
Cambridge, July 14, 1835, he referred to her in these lines : 



232 COLLEGE WORDS 

" ' New brooms sweep clean ' : 't Avas thine, dear Goody Morse, 
To prove the musty proverb hath no force, 
Since fifty years to vanished centuries crept, 
While thy old broom our cloisters duly swept. 
All changed but thee ! beneath thine aged eye ^ 
"Whole generations came and flitted by, 
Yet saw thee still in office ; — e'en reform 
Spared thee the pelting of its angry storm. 
Rest to thy bones in yonder church-yard laid, 
Where thy last bed the village sexton made ! " — p. 19. 

GORM. From gormandize. At Hamilton College, to eat vo- 
raciously. 

GOT. In Princeton College, when a student or any one else 
has been cheated or taken in, it is customary to say, he was 
got. 
GOVERNMENT. In American colleges, the general govern- 
ment is usually vested in a corporation or a board of trustees, 
whose powers, rights, and duties are established by the re- 
spective charters of the colleges over which they are placed. 
The immediate government of the undergraduates is in the 
hands of the president, professors, and tutors, who are styled 
the Government^ or the College Government, and more fre- 
quently the Faculty, or the College Faculty. — Laws of Univ. 
at Gam., Mass., 1848, pp. 7, 8. Laws of Yale Coll, 1837, 
p. 5. 

For many years he was the most conspicuous figure among those 
who constituted what was formerly called "the Government" — 
Memorial of John S. PopTcin, D. D., p. vii. 

'K.vbLcrre, mighty President ! ! ! 

Kakaixeu vvv the Government. — EehelUad, p. 27. 

Did I not jaw the Government, 

For cheating more than ten per cent? — Ibid.,Y>. 32. 

They shall receive due punishment 

From Harvard College Government. — Ibid., p. 44. 

The annexed production, printed from a MS. in the au- 
thor's handwriting, and in the possession of the editor of this 
work, is now, it is believed, for the first time presented to the 



AND CUSTOMS. 233 

public. The time is 1787 ; the scene, Harvard College. 
The poem was "written by John Q. Adams, son of the 
President, when an undergraduate." 

«A DESCRIPTION OF A GOVERNMENT MEETING. 

" The Government of College met, 
And Willard * rul'd the stern debate. 
The witty Jennison f declar'd 
As how, he 'd been completely scar'd ; 
Last night, quoth he, as I came home, 
I heard a noise in Prescoit's % room. 
I went and listen'd at the door. 
As I had often done before ; 
I found the Juniors in a high rant, 
They call'd the President a tyrant ; 
And said as how I was a fool, 
A long ear'd ass, a sottish mule, 
Without the smallest grain of spunk ; 
So I concluded they were drunk. 
At length I knock'd, and Prescott came : 
I told him 't was a burning shame, 
That he should give his classmates wine ; 
And he should pay a heavy fine. 
Meanwhile the rest grew so outragious, 
Altho' I boast of being couragious, 
I could not help being in a fright. 
For one of them put out the hght. 
I thought 't was best to come away. 
And wait for vengeance 'till this day ; 
And he 's a fool at any rate 
Who '11 fight, when he can Rusticate. 
When they [had] found that I was gone, 
They ran through College up and down ; 
And I could hear them very plain 
Take the Lord's holy name in vain. 
To Wier's § chamber they then repair'd, 

* Joseph Willard, President of Harvard College from 1781 to 1804. 
t Timothy Liudall Jennison, Tutor from 1785 to 1788. 
t James Prescott, graduated in 1788. 
§ Robert Wier, graduated in 1788. 
20* 



234 COLLEGE WORDS 

And there the wine they freely shar'd; 
They drank and sung till they were tir'd. 
And then they peacefully retir'd. 
When this Homeric speech was said, 
With drolling tongue and hanging head, 
The learned Doctor took his seat, 
Thinking he 'd done a noble feat. 
Quoth Joe,* the crime is great I own, 
Send for the Juniors one by one. 
By this almighty wig I swear, 
Which with such majesty I wear, 
Which in its orbit vast contains 
My dignity, my power and brains. 
That Wier and Prescott both shall see, 
That College boys must not be free. 
He spake, and gave the awful nod 
Like Homer's Didonean God, 
The College from its centre shook, 
And every pipe and wine-glass broke. 

" Williams^ f with countenance humane, 
While scarce from laughter could refrain. 
Thought that such youthful scenes of mirth 
To punishment could not give birth ; 
Nor could he easily divine 
What was the harm of drinking wine. 

" But Pearson, J with an awful frown, 
Full of his article and noun. 
Spake thus : by all the parts of speech 
Which I so elegantly teach. 
By mercy I will never stain 
The character which I sustain. 
Pray tell me why the laws were made, 
If they 're not to be obey'd ; 

* Joseph Willard. 

t Dr. Samuel Williams, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philos- 
ophy. 

t Dr. Eliphalet Pearson, Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Lan- 
guages. 



AND CUSTOMS. 



235 



Besides, that Wier I can't endure, 
For he 's a wicked rake, I 'ra sure. 
But whether I am right or not, 
I '11 not recede a single jot. 

" James * saw ' twould be in vain t' oppose, 
And therefore to be silent chose. 

" Burr, f who had little wit or pride, 
Preferr'd to take the strongest side. 
And Willard soon receiv'd commission 
To give a publick admonition. 
With pedant strut to prayers he came, 
Call'd out the criminals by name ; 
Obedient to his dire command, 
Prescott and Wier before him stand. 
The rulers merciful and kind. 
With equal grief and wonder find. 
That you do drink, and play, and sing, 
And make with noise the College ring. 
I therefore warn you to beware 
Of drinking more than you can bear. 
Wine an incentive is to riot. 
Disturbance of the publick quiet. 
Full well your Tutors know the truth, 
For sad experience taught their youth. 
Take then this friendly exhortation ; 
The next offence is Eustication." 

GOWN. A long, loose upper garment or robe, worn by pro- 
fessional men, as divines, lawyers, students, &c., who are 
called men of the gown, or gownmen. It is made of any kind 
of cloth, worn over ordinary clothes, and hangs down to the 
ankles, or nearly so. — Encyc. 

From a letter written in the year 1766, by Mr. Holyoke, 
then President of Harvard College, it would appear that 
gowns were first worn by the members of that institution 
about the year 1760. The gown, although worn by the 

* Eleazar James, Tutor from 1781 to 1789. 
t Jonathan Burr, Tutor 1786, 1787. 



236 COLLEGE WORDS 

students in the English universities, is now seldom worn in 
American colleges except on Commencement, Exhibition, or 
other days of a similar public character. 

The students are permitted to wear black gowns, in which they 
may appear on all public occasions. — Laws Harv. Coll., 1 798, p. 37. 
Every candidate for a first degree shall wear a black dress and 
the usual black gown. — Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass., 1848, p. 20. 

The performers all wore black gowns with sleeves large enough 
to hold me in, and shouted and swung their arms, till they looked 
like so many Methodist ministers just ordained. — Harvardiana, 
Vol. III. p. 111. 

Saw them .... clothed in gowns of satin, 

Or silk or cotton, black as souls benighted. — 
All, save the gowns, was startling, splendid, tragic, 
But gowns on men have lost their wonted magic. 

Childe Harvard, p. 26. 
The door swings open — and — he comes ! behold him 

Wrapt in his mantling gown, that round him flows 
Waving, as Cassar's toga did enfold him. — Ibid., p. 36. 
On Saturday evenings, Sundays, and Saints' days, the students 
wear surplices instead of their gowns, and very innocent and exem- 
plary they look in them. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 21. 

2. One who wears a gown. 

And here, I think, I may properly introduce a very singular gal- 
lant, a sort of mongrel between town and gown, — I mean a bib- 
hopola, or (as the vulgar have it) a bookseller. — The Student, Oxf. 
and Cam., Vol. II. p. 226. 

GOWNMAN, "^ One whose professional habit is a gown, as 
GOWNSMAN, j a divine or lawyer, and particularly a mem- 
ber of an English university. — Webster. 
The gownman learned. — Pope. 
Oft has some fair inquirer bid me say. 
What tasks, what sports beguile the gownsman's day. 

The College, in Blackwood's Mag., May, 1849. 
For if townsmen by our influence are so enhghtened, what must 
we gownsmen be ourselves ? — The Student, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. 
I. p. 56. 



AND CUSTOMS. 237 

Nor must it be supposed that the gownsmen are thin, study-worn, 
consumptive-looking individuals. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 5. 
See Cap. 

GRACE. In English universities, an act, vote, or decree of 
the government of the institution. — Webster. 

" All Graces (as the legislative measures proposed by the 
Senate are termed) have to be submitted first to the Caput, 
each member of which has an absolute veto on the grace. If 
it passes the Caput, it is then publicly recited in both houses, 
[the regent and non-regent,] and at a subsequent meeting 
voted on, first in the Non-Regent House, and then in the 
other. If it passes both, it becomes valid." — Literary World, 
Vol. XII. p. 283. 

See Caput Senatus. 

GRADUATE. To honor with a degree or diploma, in a col- 
lege or university ; to confer a degree on ; as, to graduate a 
master of arts. — Wotton. 

Graduated a doctor, and dubb'd a knight. — Carew. 

Pickering, in his Vocabulary, says of the word graduate : 
"Johnson has it as a verb active only. But an EngHsh 
friend observes, that ' the active sense of this word is rare in 
England.' I have met with one instance in an English pub- 
lication where it is used in a dialogue, in the following man- 
ner : * You, methinks, are graduated/ See a review in the 
British Critic, Vol. XXXIV. p. 538." 

In Mr. Todd's edition of Johnson's Dictionary, this word is 
given as a verb intransitive also : " To take an academical 
degree ; to become a graduate ; as he graduated at Oxford." 

In America, the use of the phrase he was graduated, in- 
stead of he graduated, which has been of late so common, " is 
merely," says Mr. Bartlett in his Dictionary of Americanisms, 
" a return to former practice, the verb being originally active 
transitive." 

He was graduated with the esteem of the government, and the 
regard of his contemporaries. — Works of R. T. Paine, p. xxix. 



238 COLLEGE WORDS 

The latter, who was graduated thirteen yeai's after. — Peirce's 
Hist. Harv. Univ., p. 219. 

In this perplexity the President had resolved "to yield to the 
torrent, and graduate Hartshorn." — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., 
Vol. I. p. 398. (The quotation was written in 1737.) 

In May, 1749, three gentlemen who had sons about to be grad- 
uated. — Ibid., Yol. 11. p. 92. 

Mr. Peirce was born in September, 1778 ; and, after being grad- 
uated at Harvard College, with the highest honors of his class. — 
Ibid., Vol. II p. 390, and Chap. XXXVU. passim. 

He was graduated in 1789 with distinguished honors, at the age 
of nineteen. — Mr. Young's Discourse on the Life of President 
Kirkland. 

His class when graduated, in 1785, consisted of thirty-two per- 
sons. — Dr. Palfrey's Discourse on the Life and Character of Dr. 
Ware. 

2. Intransitively. To receive a degree from a college or 
university. 

He graduated at Leyden in 1691. — London Monthly Mag., Oct. 

1808, p. 224. 

Wherever Magnol^racZwaiecZ. — Rees's Cyclopcedia, Art. Magnol. 

GRADUATE. One who has received a degree in a college 

or university, or from some professional incorporated society. 



GRADUATE IN A SCHOOL. A degree given, in the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, to those who have been through a course 
of study less than is required for the degree of B. A. 

GRADUATION. The act of conferring or receiving academ- 
ical degrees. — Charter of Dartmouth College. 

After his graduation at Yale College, in 1 744, he continued his 
studies at Harvard University, where he took his second degree in 
1747. — Hist. Sketch of Columbia Coll, p. 122. 

Bachelors were called Senior, Middle, or Junior Bachelors ac- 
cording to the year since graduation, and before taking the degree 
of Master. — Woolsey's Hist. Disc, p. 122. 

GRAND COMPOUNDER. At the English Universities, one 
who pays double fees for his degree. 



AND CUSTOMS. 239 

" Candidates for all degrees, who possess certain property," 
says the Oxford University Calendar, " must go out, as it is 
termed. Grand Compounders. This property required for 
this purpose may arise from two distinct sources ; either from 
some ecclesiastical benefice or benefices, or else from some 
other revenue, civil or ecclesiastical. The ratio of computa- 
tion in the fii'st case is expressly limited by statute to the 
value of the benefice or benefices, as rated in the King's hooks, 
without regard to the actual estimation at the present period ; 
and the amount of that value must not be less than forti/ pounds. 
In the second instance, which includes all other cases, com- 
prising ecclesiastical as well as civil income, (academical 
income alone excepted,) property to the extent of three hun- 
dred pounds a year is required ; nor is any difference made 
between property in land and property in money, so that a 
legal revenue to this extent of any description, not arising 
from a benefice or benefices, and not being strictly academ- 
ical, renders the qualification complete." — Ed. 1832, p. 92. 

At Oxford " a ^ grand compounder' is one who has income to the 
amount of $ 1,500, and is made to pay $ 150 for his degree, while 
the ordinary fee is $42." Lit. World, Yol. XII. p. 247. 

GRAND TRIBUNAL. The Grand Tribunal is an institu- 
tion peculiar to Trinity College, Hartford. A correspondent 
describes it as follows. " The Grand Tribunal is a mock 
court composed of the Senior and Junior Classes, and has for 
its special object the regulation and discipKne of Sophomores. 
The first officer of the Tribunal is the ' Grand High Chan- 
cellor,' who presides at all business meetings. The Tribunal 
has its judges, advocates, sheriff, and his aids. According to 
the laws of the Tribunal, no Sophomore can be tried who has 
three votes in his favor. This regulation makes a trial a dif- 
ficult matter ; there is rarely more than one trial a year, and 
sometimes two years elapse without there being a session of 
the court. When a selection of an offending and unlucky 
Soph has been made, he is arrested some time during the day 
of the evening on which his trial takes place. The court pro- 
vides him with one advocate, while he has the privilege of 



240 COLLEGE WORDS 

choosing another. These trials are often the scenes of con- 
siderable wit and eloquence. One of the most famous of them 
was held in 1853. When the Tribunal is in session, it is cus- 
tomary for the Faculty of the College to act as its police, by 
preserving order amongst the Sophs, who generally assemble 
at the door, to disturb, if possible, the proceedings of the 
Coui't." 

GRANTA. The name by which the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., was formerly known. At present it is sometimes desig- 
nated by this title in poetry, and in addresses written in other 
tongues than the vernacular. 

Warm with fond hope, and Learning's sacred flame, 
To Granta's bowers the youthful Poet came. 

Lines in Memory of H. K. White, hj Prof. William Smythy 
in Cam. Guide. 

GRATUL ATORY. Expressmg gratulation ; congratulatory. 
At Harvard College, while Wadsworth was President, in 
the early part of the last century, it was customary to close 
the exercises of Commencement day with a gratulatory ora- 
tion, pronounced by one of the candidates for a degree. This 
has now given place to what is generally called the valedic- 
tory oration. 

GRAVEL DAY. The following account of this day is given 
in a work entitled Sketches of Williams College. " On the 
second Monday of the first term in the year, if the weather 
be at all favorable, it has been customary from time imme- 
morial to hold a college meeting, and petition the President 
for ' Gravel day^ We did so this morning. The day was 
granted, and, recitations being dispensed with, the students 
turned out en masse to re-gravel the college walks. The 
gravel which we obtain here is of such a nature that it packs 
down very closely, and renders the walks as hard and smooth 
as a pavement. The Faculty grant this day for the purpose 
of fostering in the students the habit of physical labor and 
exercise, so essential to vigorous mental exertion." — 1847, 
pp. 78, 79. 

The improved method of observing this day is noted in the 



AND CUSTOMS. 241 

annexed extract. " Nearly every college has its own pecu- 
liar customs, which have been transmitted from far antiquity ; 
but Williams has perhaps less than any other. Among ours 
are ' gravel day,' * chip day/ and ' mountain day,' occurring 
one in each of the three terms. The first usually comes in 
the early part of the Fall term. In old times, when the stu- 
dents were few, and rather fonder of work than at the present, 
they turned out with spades, hoes, and other implements, and 
spread gravel over the walks, to the College grounds ; but 
in later days, they have preferred to tax themselves to a 
small amount and delegate the work to others, while they 
spend the day in visiting the Cascade, the Natural Bridge, or 
others of the numerous places of interest near us." — Boston 
Daily JEk>ening Traveller, July 12, 1854 

GREAT GO. In the English universities the final and most 
important examination is called the great go, in contradistinc- 
tion to the little go, an examination about the middle of the 
course. 

In my way back I stepped into the Great Go schools. — The 
Etonian, Vol. 11. p. 287. 

Read through the whole five volumes folio, Latin, previous to 
going up for his Great Go. — Ihid., Vol. II. p. 381. 

GREEN. Inexperienced, unsophisticated, verdant. Among 
coUegiand this term is the favorite appellation for Freshmen. 

When a man is called verdant or green, it means that he is un- 
sophisticated and raw. For instance, when a man rushes to chapel 
in the morning at the ringing of the first bell, it is called green. 
At least, we were, for it. This greenness, we would remark, is 
not, like the verdure in the vision of the poet, necessarily peren- 
nial. — Williams Monthly Miscellany, 1845, Vol. I. p. 463. 

GRIND. An exaction ; an oppressive action. Students speak 
of a very long lesson which they are required to learn, or of 
any thing which it is very unpleasant or difficult to perform, 
as a grind. This meaning is derived from the verb to grind, 
in the sense of to harass, to afflict ; as, to grind the faces of 
the poor (Isaiah iii. 15). 
21 



242 COLLEGE WORDS 

I must say 'tis a grind, tliougli — (perchance I spoke too loud). 
Poem hefore ladma, 1850, p. 12. 

GRINDING. Hard study ; diligent application. 

The successful candidate enjoys especial and excessive grinding 
during the four years of his college course. Burlesque Catalogue^ 
Yale Coll, 1852-53, p. 28. 

GHOATS. At the English universities, "nine groats^^ says 
Grose, in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, " are depos- 
ited in the hands of an academic officer by every person 
standing for a degree, which, if the depositor obtains with 
honor, are returned to him." 

To save his groats ; to come off handsomely. — Gradus ad 
Cantah, 

GROUP. A crowd or throng ; a number collected without any 
regular form or arrangement. At Harvard College, students 
are not allowed to assemble in groups, as is seen by the fol- 
lowing extract from the laws. Three persons together are 
considered as a group. 

Collecting in groups round the doors of the College buildings, or 
in the yard, shall be considered a violation of decorum. — Laws 
Univ. at Cam., Mass., 1848, Suppl., p. 4. 

GROUPING. Collecting together. 

It will surely be incomprehensible to most students how so large 
a number as six could be suffered with impunity to horde them- 
selves together within the limits of the college yard. In those 
days the very learned laws about grouping were not in existence. 
A collection of two was not then considered a sure prognostic of 
rebellion, and spied out vigilantly by tutoric eyes. A group o? 
three was not reckoned a gross outrage of the college peace, and 
punished severely by the subtraction of some dozens from the 
numerical rank of the unfortunate youth engaged in so high a mis- 
demeanor. A congregation of four was not esteemed an open, 
avowed contempt of the laws of decency and propriety, prophesy- 
ing utter combustion, desolation, and destruction to all buildings 
and trees in the neighborhood ; and lastly, a multitude of five, 
though watched with a little jealousy, was not called an intoler- 
able, unparalleled violation of everything approaching the name of 
order, absolute, downright shamelessness, worthy capital mark- 



AND CUSTOMS. 243 

punisliment, alias the loss of 87| digits! — Harvardiana, Yol. lU. 

p. 314. 

The above passage and the following are both evidently of 

a satirical nature. 
And often grouping on the chains, he hums his own sweet verse, 

Till Tutor , coming up, commands him to disperse ! 

Poem before Y. K, 1849, p. 14. 

GRUB. A hard student. Used at Williams College, and 
synonymous with Dig at other colleges. A correspondent 
says, writing from Williams : " Our real delvers, midnight 
students, are familiarly called Grubs. This is a very expres- 
sive name." 

A man must not be ashamed to be called a grub in college, if he 
would shine in the world. — Sketclies of Williams College, p. 76. 

Some there are who, though never known to read or study, are 
ever ready to debate, — not '■'•grubs" or "reading men," only 
" wordy men." — Williams Quarterly, Vol. II. p. 246. 

GRUB. To study hard ; to be what is denominated a grub, 
or hard student. " The primary sense," says Dr. Webster, 
" is probably to rub, to rake, scrape, or scratch, as wild ani- 
mals dig by scratching." 

I can grub out sl lesson in Latin or mathematics as well as the 
best of them. — Amherst Indicator, Vol. I. p. 223. 

GUARDING. " The custom of guarding Freshmen," says a 
correspondent from Dartmouth College, " is comparatively a 
late one. Persons masked would go into another's room 
at night, and oblige him to do anything they commanded 
him, as to get under his bed, sit with his feet in a pail of 
water," &c. 

GULF. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., one who ob- 
tains the degree of B. A., but has not his name inserted in 
the Calendar, is said to be in the gulf. 

He now begins to be anxious about that classical ac- 
quaintance who is in danger of the gulf — Bristed's Five Yeai^s in 
an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 95. 

Some ten or fifteen men just on the Hne, not bad enough to be 
plucked or good enough to be placed, are put into the " gulf," as 



244 COLLEGE WORDS 

it is popularly called (the Examiners' phrase is "Degrees al- 
lowed"), and have their degrees given them, but are not printed 
in the Calendar. — Ibid., -p. 205. 
GULFING. In the University of Cambridge, England, " those 
candidates for B. A. who, but for sickness or some other suf- 
ficient cause, might have obtained an honor, have their degree 
given them without examination, and thus avoid having their 
names inserted in the lists. This is called Gulfing" A de- 
gree taken in tliis manner is called " an JEgrotat Degree." — 
Alma Mater, Vol. 11. pp. 60, 105. 

I discovered that my name was nowhere to be found, — that I 
was Gulfed. — Ibid., Vol. II. p. 97. 

GUM. A trick ; a deception. In use at Dartmouth College. 
Gum is another word they have here. It means something like 
chaw. To say, " It 's all a gum," or " a regular chaw," is the 
same thing. — The Dartmouth, Voh IV. p. 117. 

GUM. At the University of Vermont, to cheat in recitation 
by using ponies, interliners, &c. ; e. g. " he gummed in ge- 
ometry." 

2. To cheat ; to deceive. Not confined to college* 
He was speaking of the " moon hoax " which " gummed " so 
many learned philosophers. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XIV. p. 189. 

GUMMATION. A trick ; raillery. 

Our reception to college ground was by no means the most hos- 
pitable, considering our unacquaintance with the manners of the 
place, for, as poor " Fresh," we soon found ourselves subject to all 
manner of sly tricks and " gummations " from our predecessors, 
the Sophs. — A Tour through College, Boston, 1832, p. 13. 

GYP. A cant term for a servant at Cambridge, England, as 
scout is used at Oxford. Said to be a sportive application of 
yCylr, a vulture. — Smart. 

The word Gyp very properly characterizes them. — Gradus ad 
Cantab., p. 56. 

And many a yawning gyp comes slipshod in. 
To wake his master ere the bells begin. 

The College, in Blackwood's Mag.,M3ij, 1849. 
The Freshman, when once safe through his examination, is first 



AND CUSTOMS. 245 

inducted into his rooms by a gyp^ usually recommended to him by 
his tutor. The gyp (from yv-^^ vulture, evidently a nickname at 
first, but now the only name applied to this class of persons) is a 
college servant, -who attends upon a number of students, some- 
times as many as twenty, calls them in the morning, brushes their 
clothes, carries for them parcels and the queerly twisted notes they 
are continually writing to one another, waits at their parties, and so 
on. Cleaning their boots is not in his branch of the profession ; 
there is a regular brigade of college shoeblacks. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 14. 

It is sometimes spelled Jip, though probably by mistake. 
My Jip brought one in this morning ; faith ! and told me I was 
focussed. — Gent. Mag., 1794, p. 1085. 



H. 

HALF-LESSON. In some American colleges on certain 
occasions the students are required to learn only one half of 
the amount of an ordinary lesson. 

They promote it [the value of distinctions conferred by the 
students on one another] by formally acknowledging the existence 
of the larger debating societies in such acts as giving " half-lessons " 
for the morning after the Wednesday night debates. — Bristed's 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 386. 

HALF-YEAR. In the German universities, a collegiate term 
,L is called a half-year. 

The annual courses of instruction are divided into summer and 

winter half-years. — HowitVs Student Life of Ger^nany, Am. Ed., 

pp. 34, 35. 

HALL. A college or large edifice belonging to a collegiate 
institution. — Webster. 

2. A collegiate body in the Universities of Oxford and 
Cambridge. In the former institution a hall differs from a 
college, in that halls are not incorporated ; consequently, 
21* 



246 COLLEGE WORDS 

whatever estate or other property they possess is held in 
trust by the University. In the latter, colleges and balls are 
synonymous. — Gam. and Oxf. Calendars, 

" In Cambridge," says the author of the Collegian's Guide, 
" the halls stand on the same footing as the colleges, but at 
Oxford they did not, in my time, hold by any means so high 
a place in general estimation. Certainly those halls which 
admit the outcasts of other colleges, and of those alone I am 
now speaking, used to be precisely what one would expect to 
find them ; indeed, I had rather that a son of mine should 
forego a university education altogether, than that he should 
have so sorry a counterfeit of academic advantages as one of 
these halls affords." — p. 172. 

"All the Colleges at Cambridge," says Bristed, "have 
equal privileges and rights, with the solitary exception of 
King's, and though some of them are called Halls, the differ- 
ence is merely one of name. But the Halls at Oxford, of 
which there are five, are not incorporated bodies, and have 
no vote in University matters, indeed are but a sort of board- 
ing-houses at which students may remain until it is time for 
them to take a degree. I dined at one of those establish- 
ments ; it was very like an officers' mess. The men had their 
own wine, and did not wear their gowns, and the only Don 
belonging to the Hall was not present at table. There was 
a tradition of a chapel belonging to the concern, but no one 
present knew where it was. This Hall seemed to be a small 
Botany Bay of both Universities, its members made up of 
all sorts of incapables and incorrigibles." — Five Years in an 
Eng. Univ., Ed, 2d, pp. 140, 141. 

3. At Cambridge and Oxford, the public eating-room. 

I went into the public " hall " [so is called in Oxford the public 
eating-room]. — De Quincey's Life and Manners, p. 231. 

Dinner is, in all colleges, a pubHc meal, taken in the refectory or 
" hall" of the society. — Ibid., p. 273. 

4. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., dinner, the name 
of the place where the meal is taken being given to the meal 
itself. 



AND CUSTOMS. 247 

Hall lasts about three quarters of an hour. — BristecVs Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 20. 

After Hall is emphatically lounging-time, it being the wise prac- 
tice of Englishmen to attempt no hard exercise, physical or men- 
tal, immediately after a hearty meal. — Ihid., p. 21. 

It is not safe to read after Hall (i. e. after dinner) . — Ihid., p. 331 . 
HANG-OUT. An entertainment. 

I remember the date from the Fourth of July occurring just 
afterwards, which I celebrated by a " hang-out" — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 80. 

He had kept me six hours at table, on the occasion of a dinner 

which he gave as an appendix to and a return for some of 

my ^''hangings-out." — Ibid., p. 198. 

HANG OUT. To treat, to live, to have or possess. Among 
English Cantabs, a verb of all-work. — Bristed. 

There were but few pensioners who " hung out " servants of their 
own. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 90. 

I had become a man who knew and " hung out to " clever 

and pleasant people, and introduced agreeable lions to one another. 
— Ibid.,^. 158. 

I had gained such a reputation for dinner-giving, that men going 
to " hang out " sometimes asked me to compose bills of fare for 
them. — Ibid., p. 195. 

HARRY SOPHS, or Henry Sophisters ; in reality Hari- 
sophs, a corruption of Erisoplis (ipia-ocfios, valde eruditus). 
At Cambridge, England, students who have kept all the 
terms required for a law act, and hence are ranked as Bach- 
elors of Law by courtesy. — Gradus ad Cantab. 
See, also. Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, p. 818. 

HARVARD WASHINGTON CORPS. From a memoran- 
dum on a fly leaf of an old Triennial Catalogue, it would ap- 
pear that a military company was first established among the 
students of Harvard College about the year 1769, and that 
its first captain was Mr. William Wetmore, a graduate of the 
Class of 1770. The motto which it then assumed, and con- 
tinued to bear through every period of its existence, was, 
" Tam Marti quam Mercurio." It was called at that time 



248 COLLEGE WORDS 

the Marti Mercurian Band. The prescribed uniform was a 
blue coat, the skirts turned with white, nankeen breeches, 
white stockings, top-boots, and a cocked hat. This associa- 
tion continued for nearly twenty years from the time of its 
organization, but the chivalrous spirit which had called it into 
existence seems at the end of that time to have faded away. 
The last captain, it is believed, was Mr. Solomon Vose, a 
graduate of the class of 1787. 

Under the auspices of Governor Gerry, in December of the 
year 1811, it was revived, and through his influence received 
a new loan of arms from the State, taking at the same time 
the name of the Harvai'd Washington Corps. In 1812, Mr. 
George Thacher was appointed its commander. The mem- 
bers of the company wore a blue coat, white vest, white pan- 
taloons, white gaiters, a common black hat, and around the 
waist a white belt, which was always kept very neat, and to 
which were attached a bayonet and cartridge-box. The offi- 
cers wore the same dress, with the exceptions of a sash instead 
of the belt, and a chapeau in place of the hat. Soon after 
this reorganization, in the fall of 1812, a banner, "with the 
arms of the College on one side and the arms of the State on 
the other, was presented by the beautiful Miss Mellen, daugh- 
ter of Judge Mellen of Cambridge, in the name of the ladies 
of that place. The presentation took place before the door of 
her father's house. Appropriate addresses were made, both 
by the fair donor and the captain of the company. Mr. Fris- 
bie, a Professor in the College, who was at that time engaged 
to Miss Mellen, whom he afterwards married, recited on the 
occasion the following verses impromptu, which were received 
with great eclat. 

" The standard's victory's leading star, 

'T is danger to forsake it ; 
How altered are the scenes of war, 

They're vanquished now who take it." 

A writer in the Harvardiana, 1836, referring to this banner, 

says : " The gilded banner now moulders away in inglorious 

: quiet, in the dusty retirement of a Senior Sophister's study. 



AND CUSTOMS. 249 

What a desecration for that ' flag by angel hands to valor 
given ' ! " * Within the last two years it has wholly disap- 
peared from its accustomed resting-place. Though departed, 
its memory will be ever dear to those who saw it in its better 
days, and under its shadow enjoyed many of the proudest 
moments of college life. 

At its second organization, the company was one of the 
finest and best drilled in the State. The members were from 
the Senior and Junior Classes. The armory was in the fifth 
story of HoUis Hall. The regular time for exercise was after 
the evening conunons. The drum would often beat before 
the meal was finished, and the students could then be seen 
rushing forth with the half-eaten biscuit, and at the same time 
buckling on theu' armor for the accustomed drill. They usu- 
ally paraded on exhibition-days, when the large concourse of 
people afforded an excellent opportunity for showing off" their 
skill in military tactics and manoeuvring. On the arrival of 
the news of the peace of 1815, it appears, from an interleaved 
almanac, that " the H. W. Corps paraded and fired a salute ; 
Mr. Porter treated the company." Again, on the 12th of 
May, same year, " H. W. Corps paraded in Charlestown, 
saluted Com. Bainbridge, and returned by the way of Boston." 
The captain for that year, Mr. W. H. Moulton, dying, on the 
6th of July, at five o'clock, P. M., " the class," says the same 
authority, " attended the funeral of Br. Moulton in Boston. 
The H. W. Corps attended in uniform, without arms, the 
ceremony of entombing their late Captain." 

In the year 1825, it received a third loan of arms, and was 
again reorganized, admitting the members of all the classes 
to its ranks. From this period until the year 1834, very 
great interest was manifested in it ; but a rebellion having 
broken out at that time among the students, and the guns of 
the company having been considerably damaged by being 

* " Flag of the free heart's hope and home ! 
By angel hands to valor given." 

Tlte American Flag., by J. E. Drake. 



250 COLLEGE -WORDS 

thrown from the windows of the armory, which was then in 
University Hall, the company was disbanded, and the arms 
were returned to the State. 

The feelings with which it was regarded by the students 
generally cannot be better shown than by quoting from some 
of the publications in which reference is made to it. " Many 
are the grave discussions and entry caucuses," says a writer 
in the Harvard Register, published in 1828, " to determine 
what favored few are to be graced with the sash and epaulets, 
and march as leaders in the martial band. Wliilst these 
important canvassings are going on, it behooves even the 
humblest and meekest to beware how he buttons his coat, or 
stiffens himself to a perpendicular, lest he be more than 
suspected of aspiring to some military capacity. But the 
Harvard Washington Corps must not be passed over without 
further notice. Who can tell what eagerness fills its ranks 
on an exhibition-day? with what spirit and bounding step 
the glorious phalanx wheels into the College yard ? with 
what exultation they mark their banner, as it comes floating 
on the breeze from Holworthy ? And ah ! who cannot tell 
how this spirit expires, this exultation goes out, when the 
clerk calls again and again for the assessments." — p. 378. 

A college poet has thus immortalized this distinguished 
band : — 

" But see where yonder light-armed ranks advance ! — 

Their colors gleaming in the noonday glance, 

Their steps symphonious with the drum's deep notes, 

While high the buoyant, breeze-borne banner floats ! 

O, let not allied hosts yon band deride ! 

'T is Harvard Corps, our bulwark and our pride ! 

Mark, how like one great whole, instinct with life, 

They seem to woo the dangers of the strife ! 

Who would not brave the heat, the dust, the rain, 

To march the leader of that valiant train ? " 

Harvard Register, p. 235. 

Another has sung its requiem in the following strain : — 
" That martial band, 'neath waving stripes and stars 
Inscribed alike to Mercury and Mars, 



AND CUSTOMS. 251 

Those gallant warriors in their dread array, 

Who shook these halls, — O where, alas ! are they ? 

Gone ! gone ! and never to our ears shall come 

The sounds of fife and spirit-stirring drum ; 

That war-worn banner slumbers in the dust. 

Those bristling arms are dim with gathering rust ; 

That crested helm, that glittering sword, that plume. 

Are laid to rest in reckless faction's tomb." 

Winslow's Class Poem, 1835. 
HAT FELLOW-COMMONER. At the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., the popular name given to a baronet, the eldest 
son of a baronet, or the younger son of a nobleman. A Hat 
Fellow 'Commoner wears the gown of a Fellow- Commoner, 
with a hat instead of the velvet cap with metallic tassel which 
a Fellow-Commoner wears, and is admitted to the degree of 
M. A. after two years' residence. 

HAULED UP. In many colleges, one brought up before the 

Faculty is said to be hauled up. 
HAZE. To trouble ; to harass ; to disturb. This word is used 
at Harvard College, to express the treatment which Fresh- 
men sometimes receive from the higher classes, and especially 
from the Sophomores. It is used among sailors with the 
meanings to urge, to drive, to harass, especially with labor. 
In his Dictionary of Americanisms, Mr. Bartletl says, " To 
haze round, is to go rioting about." 

Be ready, in fine, to cut, to drink, to smoke, to swear, to haze, to 
dead, to spree, — in one word, to be a Sophomore. — Oration he- 
fore H. L. of I. 0. of 0. R, 1848, p. 11. 
To him no orchard is unknown, — no grape-vine unappraised, — 
No farmer's hen-roost yet unrobbed, — no Freshman yet unliazed ! 

Poem before Y. ^., 1849, p. 9. 
'Tis the Sophomores rushing the Freshmen to liaze. 

Poem before ladma, 1850, p. 22. 
Never again 
Leave unbolted your door when to rest you retire, 
And, unhazed and unmartyred, you proudly may scorn 
Those foes to all Freshmen who 'gainst thee conspire. 

76i6/.,p.23. 



252 COLLEGE WORDS 

Freshmen have got quietly settled down to work, Sophs have 
given up their hazing. — Williams Quarterly, Vol. 11. p. 285. 

We are glad to be able to record, that the absurd and barbarous 
custom of 'hazing, which has long prevailed in College, is, to a 
great degree, discontinued. — Harv. Mag., Vol. I. p. 413. 

The various means which ai-e made use of in hazing the 
Freshmen are enumerated in part below. In the first pas- 
sage, a Sophomore speaks in soliloquy. 

I am a man, 
Have human feelings, though mistaken Fresh 
Affirmed I was a savage or a brute. 
When I did dash cold water in their necks. 
Discharged green squashes through their window-panes, 
And stript their beds of soft, luxurious sheets. 
Placing instead harsh briers and rough sticks, 
So that their sluggish bodies might not sleep, 
Unroused by morning bell ; or when perforce, 
From leaden syringe, engine of fierce might, 
I drave black ink upon their rufile shirts. 
Or drenched with showers of melancholy hue, 
The new-fiedged dickey peering o'er the stock, 
Fit emblem of a young ambitious mind ! 

Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 254. 

A Freshman writes thus on the subject : — 
The Sophs did nothing all the first fortnight but torment th^ 
Fresh, as they call us. They would come to our rooms with masks 
on, and frighten us dreadfully ; and sometimes squirt water through 
our keyholes, or throw a whole pailful on to one of us from the 
upper windows. — Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 76. 

HEAD OF THE HOUSE. The generic name for the high- 
est officer of a college in the English Universities. 

The Master of the College, or " Head of the House," is a D. D. 
who has been a Fellow. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, p. 16. 

The heads of houses [are] styled, according to the usage of the 
college. President, Master, Principal, Provost, Warden, or Rector. 
— Oxford Guide, 1847, p. xiii. 

Written often simply Head. 



AND CUSTOMS. 253 

The " Head" as he is called generically, of an Oxford college, is 
a greater man than the uninitiated suppose. — De Quincey's Life 
and Manners, p. 244. 

The new Head was a gentleman of most commanding personal 
appearance. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 87. 

HEADSHIP. The office and place of Jiead or president of a 
college. 

Most of the college Headships are not at the disposal of the 
Crown. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, note, p. 
89, and errata. 

The Headships of the colleges are, with the exception of Wor- 
cester, filled by one chosen by the Fellows from among themselves, 
or one who has been a Fellow. — Oxford Guide, Ed. 1847, p. xiv. 

HEADS OUT. At Princeton College, the cry when anything 
occurs in the Oampus. Used, also, to give the alarm when a 
professor or tutor is about to interrupt a spree. 
See Campus. 

HEBDOMADAL BOARD. At Oxford, the local governing 
authority of the University, composed of the Heads of col- 
leges and the two Proctors, and expressing itself through the 
Vice- Chancellor. An institution of Charles I.'s time, it has 
possessed, since the year 1631, "the sole initiative power in 
the legislation of the University, and the chief share in its 
administration." Its meetings ar . held weekly, whence the 
name. — Oxford Guide. Literary fVbrld^ Vol. XII., p. 223. 

HIGH- GO. A merry frolic, usually >vith drinking. 

Songs of scholars in revelling roundelays. 

Belched out with hickups at bacchanal Go, 

Bellowed, till heaven's high concave rebound the lays, 

Are all for college carousals too low. 

Of dullness quite tired, with merriment fired. 

And fully inspired with amity's glow. 

With hate-drowning wine, boys, and punch all divine, boys. 

The Juniors combine, boys, in friendly High-Go. 

Classology, hy William Bigloio, inserted in Buckingham's 
Reminiscences, Vol. II. pp. 281 - 284. 
He it was who broached the idea of a high-go, as being requisite 
22 



254 COLLEGE WORDS 

to give us a rank among the classes in college. D. A. White's 
Address before Soc. of the Alumni of Harv. Univ., -^^g. 27, 1844, 
p. 35. 

This word is now seldom used ; the words High and Go 
are, however, often used separately, with the same meaning 
as the compound. The phrase to get high, i. e. to become in- 
toxicated, is allied with the above expression. 

Or men ^'^ get high" by drinking abstract toddies ? 

Childe Harvard, p. 71. 

HIGH STEVf ARD. In the English universities, an officer 
who has special power to hear and determine capital causes, 
according to the laws of the land and the privileges of the 
university, whenever a scholar is the party offending. He 
also holds the university couri-leet, according to the estab- 
lished charter and custom. — Oxf. and Cam. Gals. 

At Cambridge, in addition to his other duties, the High 
Steward is the officer who represents the University in the 
House of Lords. 

HIGH TABLE. At Oxford, the table at which the Fellows 
and some other privileged persons are entitled to dine. 

Wine is not generally allowed in the pubHc hall, except to the 
" high table." — De Quincey's Life and Manners, p. 273. 

I dine at the " high table " with the reverend deans, and hobnob 
with professors. — Household Words, Am. ed., Yol. XI. p. 521. 

HIGH-TI. At Williams College, a term by which is desig- 
nated a showy recitation. Equivalent to the word squirt at 
Harvard College. 
HILLS. At Cambridge, Eng., Gogmagog HiUs are commonly 
called the Hills. 

Or to the HiUs on horseback strays, 
(Unasked his tutor,) or his chaise 
To famed Newmarket guides. 

Gradus ad Cantab., p. 35. 

HISS. To condemn by hissing. 

This is a favorite method, especially among students, of 
expressing their disapprobation of any person or measure. 



AND CUSTOMS. 255 

I '11 tell you what ; your crime is this, 
That, Touchy, you did scrape, and hiss. 

Rehelliad, p. 45. 
Who will bully, scrape, and hiss I 
Who, I say, will do all this ! 

Let him follow me, — Ibid., p. 53. 

HOAXING. At Princeton College, inducing new-comers to 
join the secret societies is called hoaxing. 

HOBBY. A translation. Hobbies are used by some students 
in translating Latin, Greek, and other languages, who from 
this reason are said to ride, in contradistinction to others who 
learn their lessons by study, who are said to diff or gricb. 
See Pony. 

HOBSON'S CHOICE. Thomas Hobson, during the first third 
of the seventeenth century, was the University carrier be- 
tween Cambridge and London. He died January 1st, 1631. 
" He rendered himself famous by furnishing the students with 
horses ; and, making it an unalterable rule that every horse 
should have an equal portion of rest as well as labor, he 
would never let one out of its turn ; hence the celebrated say- 
ing, ' Hobson's Choice : this, or none.' " Milton has per- 
petuated his fame in two whimsical epitaphs, which may be 
found among his miscellaneous poems. 

HOE IN. At Hamilton College, to strive vigorously ; a met- 
aphorical meaning, taken from labor with the hoe. 

HOIST. It was formerly customary at Harvard College, when 
the Freshmen were used as servants, to report them to their 
Tutor if they refused to go when sent on an errand ; this 
complaint was called a hoisting, and the delinquent was said 
to be hoisted. 

The refusal to perform a reasonable service required by a mem- 
ber of the class above him, subjected the Freshmen to a complaint 
to be brought before his Tutor, technically called hoisting him to 
his Tutor. The threat was commonly sufficient to exact the ser- 
vice. — Willard's Memories of Youth and Manhood, Vol. I. p. 259. 

HOLD INS. At Bowdoin College, "near the commence- 
ment of each year," says a correspondent, " the Sophs are 



256 COLLEGE WORDS 

wont, on some particular evening, to attempt to ' hold in ' the 
Freslimen when coming out of prayers, generally producing 
quite a skirmish." 
HOLLIS. Mr. Thomas HoUis of Lincoln's Inn, to whom, with 
many others of the same name, Harvard College is so much 
indebted, among other presents to its library, gave " sixty-four 
volumes of valuable books, curiously bound." To these ref- 
erence is made in the following extract from the Gentleman's 
Magazine for September, 1781. "Mr. HolHs employed Mr. 
Pingo to cut a number of emblematical devices, such as the 
caduceus of Mercury, the wand of JEsculapius, the owl, the 
cap of liberty, &c. ; and these devices were to adorn the backs 
and sometimes the sides of books. When patriotism animated 
a work, instead of unmeaning ornaments on the binding, he 
adorned it with caps of liberty. When wisdom filled the 
page, the owl's majestic gravity bespoke its contents. The 
caduceus pointed out the works of eloquence, and the wand 
of ^sculapius was a signal of good medicine. The different 
emblems were used on the same book, when possessed of dif- 
ferent merits, and to express his disapprobation of the whole or 
parts of any work, the figure or figures were reversed. Thus 
each cover exhibited a critique on the book, and was a proof 
that they were not kept for show, as he must read before he 
could judge. Read this, ye admirers of gilded books, and 
imitate." 

HONORARIUM, ) A term applied, in Europe, to the recom- 
HONORARY. I pense offered to professors in universities, 
and to medical or other professional gentlemen for their ser- 
vices. It is nearly equivalent to fee, with the additional idea 
of being given honoris causa, as a token of respect. — Brande. 
Webster. 

There are regular receivers, qu£estors, appointed for the recep- 
tion of the Jwnorarium, or charge for the attendance of lectures. — 
Howitfs Student Life of Germany, Am. ed., p. 30. 

HONORIS CAUSA. Latin; as an honor. Any honorary 
degree given by a college. 



AND CUSTOMS. 257 

Degrees in the faculties of Divinity and Law are conferred, at 
present, either in course, honoiis causa, or on admission ad eundem. 
— Calendar Trin. Coll., 1850, p. 10. . 

HONORS. In American colleges, the principal honors are 
appointments as speakers at Exhibitions and Commence- 
ments. These are given for excellence in scholarship. The 
appointments for Exhibitions are different in different colleges. 
Those of Commencement do not vary so much. The follow- 
ing is a list of the appointments at Harvard College, in the 
order in which they are usually assigned : Valedictory Ora- 
tion, called also the English Oration, Salutatory in Latin, 
Enghsh Orations, Dissertations, Disquisitions, and Essays. 
The salutatorian is not always the second scholar in the class, 
but must be the best, or, in case this distinction is enjoyed by 
the valedictorian, the second-best Latin scholar. Latin or 
Greek poems or orations or English poems sometimes form a 
part of the exercises, and may be assigned, as are the other 
appointments, to persons in the first part of the class. At 
Yale College the order is as follows r Valedictory Oration, 
Salutatory in Latin, Philosophical Orations, Orations, Disser- 
tations, Disputations, and Colloquies. A person who receives 
the appointment of a Colloquy can either write or speak in a 
colloquy, or write a poem. Any other appointee can also 
write a poem. Other colleges usually adopt one or the other 
of these arrangements, or combine the two. 

At the University of Cambridge, Eng., those who at the 
final examination in the Senate-House are classed as Wran- 
glers, Senior Optimes, or Junior Optimes, are said to go out 
in honors, 

I very early in the Sophomore year gave up all thoughts of ob- 
taining high honors. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, p. 6. 

HOOD. An ornamented fold that hangs down the back of a 
graduate, to mark his degree. — Johnson. 

My head with ample square-cap crown, 
And deck with hood my shoulders. 

The Student, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. L p. 349. 
22* 



258 COLLEGE WOBDS 

HORN-BLOWING. At Princeton CoUege, the students often 

provide themselves at night with horns, bugles, &c., climb the 

trees in the Campus, and set up a blowing which is continued 

as long as prudence and safety allow. 
HORSE-SHEDDING. At the University of Vermont, among 

secret and literary societies, this term is used to express the 

idea conveyed by the word electioneering. 
HOUSE. A college. The word was formerly used with this 

signification in Harvard and Yale Colleges. 
If any scholar shaU. transgress any of the laws of God, or the 

House, he shall be Hable, &c. — Quincifs Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. 

p. 517. 

If detriment come by any out of the society, then those officers 

[the butler and cook] themselves shall be responsible to the House. 

— Ibid., Yol. 1. p. 583. 

A member of the college was also called a Member of the 

House. 
The steward is to see that one third part be reserved of all the 

payments to him by the members of the House quarterly made. — 

Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 582. 

A college officer was called an Officer of the House. 

The steward shall be bound to give an account of the necessary 
disbursements which have been issued out to the steward himself, 
butler, cook, or any other officer of the House. — Quincy's Hist. 
Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 582. 

Neither shall the butler or cook suffer any scholar or scholars 
whatever, except the Fellows, Masters of Art, Fellow- Commoners, 
or officers of the House, to come into the butteries, &c. — Ibid., 
Vol. I. p. 584. 

Before the year 1708, the term Fellows of the House was 
applied, at Harvard College, both to the members of the Cor- 
poration, and to the instructors who did not belong to the 
Corporation. The equivocal meaning of this title was noticed 
by President Leverett, for, in his duplicate record of the pro- 
ceedings of the Corporation and the Overseers, he designates 
certain persons to whom he refers as " Fellows of the House, 
i. e. of the Corporation." Soon after this, an attempt was 



AND CUSTOMS. 259 

made to distinguish between these two classes of Fellows, 
and in 1711 the distinction was settled, when one Whiting, 
" who had been for several years known as Tutor and ' Fel- 
low of the House,' but had never in consequence been deemed 
or pretended to be a member of the Corporation, was admitted 
to a seat in that board." — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. 
I. pp. 278, 279. 

See Scholar of the House. 

2. An assembly for transacting business. 

See Congregation, Convocation. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. At Union College, 
the members of the Junior Class compose what is called the 
House of Representatives, a body organized after the manner 
of the national House, for the purpose of becoming acquainted 
with the forms and manner of legislation. The following ac- 
count has been furnished by a member of that College. 

" At the end of the third term, Sophomore year, when the 
members of that class are looking forward to the honors 
awaiting them, comes off the initiation to the House. The 
Friday of the tenth week is the day usually selected for the 
occasion. On the afternoon of that day the Sophomores 
assemble in the Junior recitation-room, and, after organizing 
themselves by the appointment of a chairman, are waited 
upon by a committee of the House of Representatives of the 
Junior Class, who announce that they are ready to proceed 
with the initiation, and occasionally dilate upon the impor- 
tance and responsibility of the future position of the Sopho- 
mores. 

"The invitation thus given is accepted, and the class, 
headed by the committee, proceeds to the Representatives' 
Hall. On their arrival, the members of the House retire, 
and the incoming members, under the direction of the com- 
mittee, arrange themselves around the platform of the 
Speaker, all in the room at the same time rising in their 
seats. The Speaker of the House now addresses the Soph- 
omores, announcing to them their election to the high position 
of Representatives, and exhorting them to discharge well all 



260 COLLEGE WORDS 

their duties to their constituents and their common country. 
He closes, by stating it to be their first business to elect the 
officers of the House. 

" The election of Speaker, Vice-Speaker, Clerk, and Treas- 
urer by ballot then follows, two tellers being appointed by the 
Chair. The Speaker is elected for one year, and must be 
one of the Faculty ; the other officers hold only during the 
ensuing term. The Speaker, however, is never expected to 
be present at the meetings of the House, with the exception 
of that at the beginning of each term session, so that the 
whole duty of presiding falls on the Vice-Speaker. This is 
the only meeting of the new House during that term. 

"On the second Friday afternoon of the fall term, the 
Speaker usually delivers an inaugural address, and soon after 
leaves the chair to the Vice-Speaker, who then announces the 
representation from the different States, and also the list of 
committees. The members are apportioned by him according 
to population, each State having at least one, and some two 
or three, as the number of the Junior Class may allow. The 
committees are constituted in the manner common to the 
National House, the number of each, however, being less. 
Business then follows, as described in Jefferson's Manual; 
petitions, remonstrances, resolutions, reports, debates, and all 
the ' toggery ' of legislation, come on in regular, or rather 
irregular succession. The exercises, as may be well con- 
ceived, furnish an excellent opportunity for improvement in 
parliamentary tactics and political oratory." 

The House of Representatives was founded by Profes- 
sor John Austin Yates. It is not constituted by every 
Junior Class, and may be regarded as intermittent in its 
character. 
See Senate. 

HUMANIST. One who pursues the study of the humanities 
(liter cB humaniores), or polite literature ; a term used in va- 
rious European universities, especially the Scotch. — JBrande. 

HUMANITY, p?. Humanities. In the plural signifying gram- 
mar, rhetoric, the Latin and Greek languages, and poetry ; 



AND CUSTOMS. 261 

for teaching which there are professors in the English and 

Scotch universities. — Encyc. 
HUMMEL. At the University of Vermont, a foot, especially 

a large one. 
HYPHENUTE. At Princeton College, the aristocratic or 

would-be aristocratic in dress, manners, &c., are called 

Hyphenutes. Used both as a noun and adjective. Same as 

Oi "Apia-TOi, q. V. 



ILLUMINATE. To interline with a translation. Students 
illuminate a book when they write between the printed lines 
a translation of the text. Illuminated books are preferred by 
good judges to ponies or hobbies, as the text and translation 
in them are brought nearer to one another. The idea of 
calling books thus prepared illuminated, is taken partly from 
the meaning of the word illuminate, to adorn with ornamental 
letters, substituting, however, in this case, useful for ornamen- 
tal, and partly from one of its other meanings, to throw light 
on, as on obscure subjects. 

ILLUSTRATION. That which elucidates a subject. A word 
used with a peculiar application by undergraduates in the 
University of Cambridge, Eng. 

I Ts^ent back, .... and did a few more bits of illustration, such as 
noting down the relative resources of Athens and Sparta when the 
Peloponnesian war broke out, and the sources of the Athenian 
revenue. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 51. 

IMPOSITION. In the English universities, a supernumerary 
exercise enjoined on students as a punishment. 

Minor offences are punished by rustication, and those of a more 
trivial nature by fines, or by literary tasks, here termed Impositions. 
— Oxford Guide, p. 149. 

Literary tasks called impositions, or frequent compulsive attend- 



262 COLLEGE WORDS 

ances on tedious and unimproving exercises in a college haU. — 
T. Warton, Minor Poems of Milton, p. 432. 

Impositions are of various lengths. For missing chapel, about 
one hundred lines to copy ; for missing a lecture, the lecture to 

translate. This is the measure for an occasional offence 

For coming in late at night repeatedly, or for any offence nearly 
deserving rustication, I have known a whole book of Thucydides 
given to translate, or the Ethics of Aristotle to analyze, when the 
offender has been a good scholar, while others, who could only do 
mechanical work, have had a book of Euclid to write out. 

Long impositions are very rarely tarberized. When college 
tutors intend to be severe, which is very seldom, they are not to 
be trifled with. 

At Cambridge, impositions are not always in writing, but some- 
times two or three hundred lines to repeat by heart. This is ruin 
to the barber. — Collegian's Guide, pp. 159, 160. 

In an abbreviated form, impos. 

He is obliged to stomach the impos., and retire. — Grad. ad 
Cantab., p. 125. 

He satisfies the Proctor and the Dean by saying a part of each 
impos. — Ibid., p. 128. 

See Barber. 

INCEPT. To take the degree of Master of Arts. 

They may nevertheless take the degree of M. A. at the usual 
period, by putting their names on the College boards a few days 
previous to incepting. — Cambridge Calendar. 

The M. A. incepts in about three years and two months from 
the time of taking his first degree. — Bristed's Five Years in an 
Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 285. 

INCEPTOR. One who has proceeded to the degree of M. A., 

but who, not enjoying all the privileges of an M. A. until 

the Commencement, is in the mean time termed an Inceptor. 

Used in the English universities, and formerly at Harvard 

College. 

And, in case any of the Sophisters, Questionists, or Inceptors 

fail in the premises required at their hands, they shall be 

deferred to the following year. — Laws o/" 1650, in Quincy's Hist. 
Harv. Univ., Yol. I. p. 518. 



AND CUSTOMS. 263 

The Admissio Inceptorum was as follows : " Admitto te ad 
secundum gradum in artibus pro more Academiarum in An- 
glia : tibique trado hunc librum una cum potestate publice pro- 
fitendi, ubicunque ad hoc munus publice evocatus fueris." — 
Ihid., Vol. I. p. 580. 
INDIAN SOCIETY. At the Collegiate Institute of Indiana, 
a society of smokers was established, in the year 1837, by an 
Indian named Zachary Colbert, and called the Indian Society. 
The members and those who have been invited to join the 
society, to the number of sixty or eighty, are accustomed to 
meet in a small room, ten feet by eighteen ; all are obliged 
to smoke, and he who first desists is required to pay for the 
cigars smoked at that meeting. 
INDIGO. At Dartmouth College, a member of the party 
called the Blues. The same as a Blue, which see. 

The Rowes, years ago, used to room in Dartmouth Hall, though 
none room there now, and so they made up some verses. Here is 
one : — 

" Hurrah for Dartmouth Hall! 
Success to every student 
That rooms in Dartmouth Hall, 

Unless he be an Indigo, 
Then, no success at all." 

The Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 117. 

INITIATION. Secret societies exist in almost all the colleges 
in the United States, which require those who are admitted 
to pass through certain ceremonies called the initiation. This 
fact is often made use of to deceive Freshmen, upon their 
entrance into college, who are sometimes initiated into socie- 
ties which have no existence, and again into societies where 
initiation is not necessary for membership. 

A correspondent from Dartmouth College writes as follows : 
" I believe several of the colleges have various exercises of 
initiating Freshmen. Ours is done by the ' United Frater- 
nity,' one of our library societies (they are neither of them 
secret), which gives out word that the initiation is a fearful 
ceremony. It is simply every kind of operation that can be 



264 COLLEGE WORDS 

contrived to terrify, and annoy, and make fun of Freshmen, 
who do not find out for some time that it is not the necessary 
and serious ceremony of making them members of the so- 
ciety." 

In the University of Virginia, students on entering are 
sometimes initiated into the ways of college life by very novel 
and unique ceremonies, an account of which has been fur- 
nished by a graduate of that institution. " The first thing, 
by way of admitting the novitiate to all the mysteries of col- 
lege Hfe, is to require of him in an official communication, 
under apparent signature of one of the professors, a written 
list, tested under oath, of the entire number of his shirts and 
other necessary articles in his wardrobe. The list he is re- 
quested to commit to memory, and be prepared for an exam- 
ination on it, before the Faculty, at some specified hour. This 
the new-comer usually passes with due satisfaction, and no 
little trepidation, in the presence of an august assemblage of 
his student professors. He is now remanded to his room to 
take his bed, and to rise about midnight bell for breakfast. 
The ' CalHthumpians ' (in this Institution a regularly organ- 
ized company), ' Squallinaders,' or 'Masquers,' perform their 
part during the livelong night with instruments * harsh thun- 
der grating,' to insure to the poor youth a sleepless night, and 
give him full time to con over and curse in his heart the 
miseries of a college existence. Our fellow-comrade is now 
up, dressed, and washed, perhaps two hours in advance of the 
first Hght of dawn, and, under the guidance of a posse comita- 
tus of older students, is kindly conducted to his morning meal. 
A long alley, technically ' Green Alley,' terminating with a 
brick wall, informing all, ' Thus far shalt thou go, and no 
farther,' is pointed out to him, with directions ' to follow his 
nose and keep straight ahead.' Of course the unsophisticated 
finds himself completely nonplused, and gropes his way back, 
amidst the loud vociferations of ' Go it, green un ! ' With due 
apologies for the treatment he has received, and violent de- 
nunciations against the former posse for their unheard-of 
insolence towards the gentleman, he is now placed under 



AND CUSTOMS. 



265 



different guides, who volunteer their services *to see him 
through.' Suffice it to be said, that he is again egregiously 
' taken in/ being deposited in the Rotunda or Lecture-room, 
and told to ring for whatever he wants, either coffee or hot 
biscuit, but particularly enjoined not to leave without special 
permission from one of the Faculty. The length of his so- 
journ in this place, where he is finally left, is of course in 
proportion to his state of verdancy." 

INSPECTOR OF THE COLLEGE. At Yale College, a 
person appointed to ascertain, inspect, and estimate all dam- 
ages done to the College buildings and appurtenances, when- 
ever required by the President. All repairs, additions, and 
alterations are made under his inspection, and he is also 
authorized to determine whether the College chambers are fit 
for the reception of the students. Formerly the inspectorship 
in Harvard College was held by one of the members of the 
College government. His duty was to examine the state of 
the College public buildings, and also at stated times to 
examine the exterior and interior of the buildings occupied 
by the students, and to cause such repairs to be made as were 
in his opinion proper. The same duties are now performed 
by the Superintendent of Public Buildings. — Laws Tale Coll., 
1837, p. 22. Laws Harv. Coll., 1814, p. 58, and 1848, p. 29. 
The duties of the Inspector of the College Buildings, at 
Middlebury, are similar to those required of the inspector at 
Yii\Q. — Laws Mid. Coll., 1839, pp. 15, 16. 

IN STATU PUPILLARI. Latin; literally, in a state of 
pupilage. In the English universities, one who is subject to 
collegiate laws, disciphne, and officers is said to be in statu 
pupillari. 

And the short space that here we tarry, 
At least " in statu pupillari" 
Forbids our growing hopes to germ, 
Alas ! beyond the appointed term. 

Grad. ad Cantab., p. 109. 

INTERLINEAR. A printed book, with a written translation 
23 



266 COLLEGE WORDS 

between the lines. The same as an illuminated book ; for an 
account of which, see under Illuminate. 

Then devotes himself to study, with a steady, earnest zeal, 
And scorns an Interlinear, or a Pony's meek appeal. 

Poem lefore ladma, 1850, p. 20. 

INTEELINEE. Same as Interlinear. 

In the "Memorial of John S. Popkin, D. D.," a Pro- 
fessor at Harvard College, Professor Felton observes : " He 
was a mortal enemy to translations, ' interliners,^ and all such 
subsidiary helps in learning lessons ; he classed them all 
under the opprobrious name of ' facilities,' and never scrupled 
to seize them as contraband goods. When he withdrew from 
College, he had a large and valuable collection of this species 
of Hterature. In one of the notes to his Three Lectures he 
says : ' I have on hand a goodly number of these confiscated 
wares, full of manuscript innotations, which I seized in the 
way of duty, and would now restore to the owners on de- 
mand, without their proving property or paying charges.'" 
— p. Ixxvii. 

Ponies, ItiterUners, Ticks, Screws, and Deads (these are all col- 
lege verbalities) were all put under contribution. — A Tour through 
College, Boston, 1832, p. 25. 

INTONITANS BOLUS. Greek, ^5>Xos, a lump. Latin, bolus^ 
a bit, a morsel. English, bolus, a mass of anything made 
into a large pill. It may be translated a thundering pill. At 
Harvard College, the Intonitans Bolus was a great cane or 
club which was given nominally to the strongest fellow in the 
graduating class ; " but really," says a correspondent, " to the 
greatest bully," and thus was transmitted, as an entailed es- 
tate, to the Samsons of College. If any one felt that he had 
been wronged in not receiving this emblem of valor, he was 
permitted to take it from its possessor if he could. In later 
years the club presented a very curious appearance ; being 
almost entirely covered with the names of those who had held 
it, carved on its surface in letters of all imaginable shapes 
and descriptions. At one period, it was in the possession of 



- AND CUSTOMS. 267 

Richard Jeffrey Cleveland, a member of the class of 1827, 
and was by him transmitted to Jonathan Saunderson of the 
class of 1828. It has disappeared within the last fifteen or 
twenty years, and its hiding-place, even if it is in existence, 
is not known. 

See Bully Club. 
INVALID'S TABLE. At Yale College, in former times, a 
table at which those who were not in health could obtain 
more nutritious food than was supplied at the common board. 
A graduate at that institution has referred to the subject in 
the annexed extract. " It was extremely difficult to obtain 
permission to board out, and indeed impossible except in ex- 
treme cases : the beginning of such permits would have been 
like the letting out of water. To take away all pretext for 
it, an ' invalid's table ' was provided, where, if one chose to 
avail himself of it, having a doctor's certificate that his health 
required it, he might have a somewhat different diet." — 
Scenes and Characters in College^ New Haven, 1847, pp. 
117, 118. 



J. 

JACK-KNIFE. At Harvard College it has long been the 
custom for the ugliest member of the Senior Class to receive 
from his classmates a Jack-knife, as a reward or consolation 
for the plainness of his features. In former times, it was 
transmitted from class to class, its possessor in the graduating 
class presenting it to the one who was deemed the ugliest in 
the class next below. 

Mr. William Biglow, a member of the class of 1794, the 
recipient for that year of the Jack-knife, — in an article under 
the head of " Omnium Gatherum," published in the Federal 
Orrery, April 27, 1795, entitled, " A Will : Being the last 
words of Charles Chatterbox, Esq., late worthy and much 



268 COLLEGE WORDS 

lamented member of the Laughing Club of Harvard Univer- 
sity, who departed college life, June 21, 1794, in the twenty- 
first year of his age," — presents this transmittendum to his 
successor, with the following words ; — ■ 

" Item. C P s * has my knife, 

During his natural college life ; 

That knife, which ugliness inherits, 

And due to his superior merits. 

And when from Harvard he shall steer, 

I order him to leave it here, 

That 't may from class to class descend, 

Till time and ugliness shaU end." 
Mr. Prentiss, in the autumn of 1795, soon after graduating, 
commenced the publication of the Rural Repository, at Leo- 
minster, Mass. In one of the earliest numbers of this paper, 
following the example of Mr. Biglow, he published his will, 
which Mr. Paine, the editor of the Federal Orrery, immedi- 
ately transferred to his columns with this introductory note : 
— " Having, in the second number of- ' Omnium Gatherum ' 
presented to our readers the last will and testament of Charles 
Chatterbox, Esq., of witty memory, wherein the said Charles, 

now deceased, did lawfully bequeath to Ch s Pr s 

the celebrated ' Ugly Knife,' to be by him transmitted, at his 
college demise, to the next succeeding candidate; * * * * 

and whereas the said Ch s Pr s, on the 21st of June 

last, departed his aforesaid college life, thereby leaving to the 
inheritance of his successor the valuable legacy which his 
illustrious friend had bequeathed, as an entailed estate, to the 
poets of the university, — we have thought proper to insert a 
full, true, and attested copy of the will of the last deceased 
heir, in order that the world may be furnished with a cor- 
rect genealogy of this renowned Jack-knife, whose pedigree 
will become as illustrious in after time as the family of the 
' RoLLES,' and which will be celebrated by future wits as 
the most formidable loeapon of modern genius." 

* Charles Prentiss, who when this was written was a member of the 
Junior Class. Both he and Mr. Biglow were fellows of "infinite jest," 
and were noted for the superiority of their talents and intellect. 



AND CUSTOMS. 269 

That part of the will only is here inserted which refers 
particularly to the Knife. It is as follows : — 

I — I say I, now make this will ; 

Let those whom I assign fulfil. 

I give, grant, render, and convey 

My goods and chattels thus away ; 

That lionor of a college life, 

That celehrated Ugly Knife, 

^Vhich predecessor Sawney * orders, 

Descending to time's utmost borders, 

To noblest hard of Jiomeliest phiz, 

To have and hold and use, as his, 

I now present C s P y S r, f 

To keep with his poetic lumber, 

To scrape his quid, and make a spht. 

To point his pen for sharpening wit ; 

And order that he ne'er abuse 

Said ugly knife, in dirtier use. 

And let said Charles, that best of writers-, 

In prose satiric skilled to bite us, 

And equally in verse delight us. 

Take special care to keep it clean 

From unpoetic hands, — I ween. 

And when those walls, the muses' seat, 

Said S r is obliged to quit, 

Let some one of Apollo's firing, 

To such heroic joys aspiring, 

Who long has borne a poet's name, 

With said Knife cut his way to fame." 
See Buckingham's Reminiscences, Yol. II. pp. 231, 270. 
Tradition asserts that the original Jack-knife was termi- 
nated at one end of the handle by a large blade, and at the 
other by a projecting piece of iron, to which a chain of the 
same metal was attached, and that it was customary to carry 
it in the pocket fastened by this chain to some part of the 



* Mr. Biglow was known in college by the name of Sawney, and was 
thus frequently addressed by his familiar friends in after life. 

t Charles Pinckney Sumner, afterwards a lawyer in Boston, and for 
many years sheriff of the county of Suffolk. 
23* 



270 COLLEGE WORDS 

person. When this was lost, and the custom of transmitting 
the Knife went out of fashion, the class, guided by no rule 
but that of their own fancy, were accustomed to present any 
thing in the shape of a knife, whether oyster or case, it made 
no difference. In one instance a wooden one was given, and 
was immediately burned by the person who received it. At 
present the Jack-knife is voted to the ugliest member of the 
Senior Class, at the meeting for the election of officers for 
Class Day, and the sum appropriated for its purchase varies 
in different years from fifty cents to twenty dollars. The 
custom of presenting the Jack-knife is one of the most amus- 
ing of those which have come down to us from the past, and 
if any conclusion may be drawn from the interest which is 
now manifested -in its observance, it is safe to infer, in the 
words of the poet, that it will continue 

""Till time and ugliness shall end." 
In the Collegiate Institute of Indiana, a Jack-knife is given 
to the greatest liar, as a reward of merit. 
See Will. 

JAPANNED. A cant term in use at the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., explained in the following passage. "Many 

step into the Church, without any pretence of 

other change than in the attire of their outward man, — the 
being ^ japanned,^ as assuming the black dress and white 
cravat is called in University slang." — Bristed's Five Years 
in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 344. 

JESUIT. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a member 
of Jesus College. 

JOBATION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a sharp 
reprimand from the Dean for some offence, not eminently 
heinous. 

Thus dismissed the august presence, he recounts this jobation to 
his friends, and enters into a discourse on masters, deans, tutors, 
and proctors. — Grad. ad Cantab., p. 124. 

JOBE. To reprove ; to reprimand. " In the University of 
Cambridge, [Eng.,] the young scholars are wont to call 
chiding, yo5m^." — Grad. ad Cantab. 



AND CUSTOMS. 271 

I heard a lively young man assert, that, in consequence of an in- 
tunation from the tutor relative to his irregularities, his father came 
from the country to Jobe him. — Ge7it. Mag., Dec. 1794. 

JOE. A name given at several American colleges to a privy. 
It is said that when Joseph Penney was President of Hamil- 
ton College, a request from the students that the privies might 
be cleansed was met by him with a denial. In consequence 
of this refusal, the offices were purified by fire on the night 
of November 5th. The derivation of the word, allowing the 
truth of this story, is apparent. 

The following account of Joe-Burning is by a correspond- 
ent from Hamilton College : — " On the night of the 5th of 
November, every year, the Sophomore Class burn ' Joe.' A 
large pile is made of rails, logs, and light wood, in the form 
of a triangle. The space within is filled level to the top, with 
all manner of combustibles. A ' Joe ' is then sought for by 
the class, carried from its foundations on a rude bier, and 
placed on this pile. The interior is filled with wood and 
straw, surrounding a barrel of tar placed in the middle, over 
all of which gallons of turpentine are thrown, and then set 
fire to. From the top of the lofty hill on which the College 
buildings are situated, this fire can be seen for twenty miles 
around. The Sophomores are all disguised in the most odd 
and grotesque dresses. A ring is formed around the burning 
'Joe,' and a chant is sung. Horses of the neighbors are 
obtained and ridden indiscriminately, without saddle or bridle. 
The burning continues usually until dayhght." 

Ponamus Convivium 
Josephi in locum 
Et id uremus. 

Convivii Exsequice, Hamilton Coll., 1850. 

JOHNIAN. A member of St. John's College in the University 
of Cambridge, Eng. 

The JoTinians are always known by the name of pigs ; they put 
up a new organ the other day, which was immediately christened 
"Baconi Novum Organum." — Westminster Rev., Am. ed., Vol. 
XXXV., p. 236. 



272 COLLEGE WORDS 

JUN. Abbreviated for Junior. 

The target for all the venomed darts of rowdy Sophs, magnificent 
Juns^ and lazy Senes. — The Yale Banger, i!sov. 10, 1846. 

JUNE. An abbreviation of Junior. 

I once to Yale a Fresh did come, 

But now a joUy June, 
Eeturning to my distant home, 
I bear the wooden spoon. 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 36. 
But now, when no longer a Fresh or a Soph, 
Each blade is a gentleman June. 

Ibid., p. 39. 

JUNE TRAESTNG. The following interesting and entertain- 
ing account of one of the distinguishing customs of the Uni- 
versity of Vermont, is from the pen of one of her graduates, 
to whom the editor of this work is under many obligations for 
the valuable assistance lie has rendered in effecting the com- 
pleteness of this Collection. 

" In the old time when militia trainings were in fashion, 
tlie authorities of Burlington decided that, whereas the stu- 
dents of the University of Vermont claimed and were allowed 
the right of suffrage, they were to be considered citizens, and 
consequently subject to military duty. The students having 
refused to appear on parade, were threatened with prosecu- 
tion ; and at last they determined to make their appearance. 
This they did on a certain ' training day,' (the year I do not 
recollect,) to the full satisfaction of the authorities, who did 
not expect su/^h a parade, and had no desire to see it repeated. 
But the students being unwilling to expose themselves to ' the 
rigor of the law,' paraded annually; and when at last the 
statute was repealed and militia musters abolished, they con- 
tinued the practice for the sake of old association. Thus it 
passed into a custom, and the first Wednesday of June is as 
eagerly anticipated by the citizens of Burlington and the 
youth of the surrounding country for its ' training,' as is the 
first Wednesday of August for its annual Commencement. 
The Faculty always smile propitiously, and in the afternoon 



AND CUSTOMS. 273 

the performance commences. The army, or more eupho- 
niously the ' University Invincibles,' take up ' their line of 
march ' from the College campus, and proceed through all the 
principal streets to the great square, where, in the presence 
of an immense audience, a speech is delivered by the Com- 
mander-in-chief, and a sermon by the Chaplain, tlie roll is 
called, and the annual health report is read by the sur- 
geon. These productions are noted for their patriotism and 
fervid eloquence rather than high hterary merit. Formerly 
the music to which they marched consisted solely of the good 
old-fashioned drum and fife ; but of late years the Invincibles 
have added to these a brass band, composed of as many obso- 
lete instruments as can be procured, m the hands of inexperi- 
enced performers. None wdio have ever handled a musical 
instrument before are allowed to become members of the 
band, lest the music should be too sweet and regular to com- 
port with the general order of the parade. The uniform (or 
rather the multiform) of the company varies from year to 
year, owing to the regulation that each soldier shall consult 
his own taste, — provided that no two are to have the same 
taste in their equipments. The artillery consists of divers 
joints of rusty stove-pipe, in each of which is inserted a toy 
cannon of about one quarter of an inch calibre, mounted on 
an old dray, and drawn by as many horse-apologies as can be 
conveniently attached to it. When these guns are discharged, 
the effect — as might be expected — is terrific. The ban- 
ners, built of cotton sheeting and mounted on a rake-handle, 
although they do not always exhibit great artistic genius, 
often display vast originality of design. For instance, one 
contained on the face a diagram (done in ink with the wrong 
end of a quill) of the pons asinorum, with the rather bellige- 
rent inscription, ' Remember Napoleon at Lodi.' On the 
reverse was the head of an extremely doubtful-looking indi- 
vidual viewing ' his natural face in a glass.' Inscription, — 
' O wad some pow'r the giftie gie us 
To see oursel's as others see us.' 

" The surgeon's equipment is an ox-cart containing jars of 



274 COLLEGE WORDS 

drugs (most of them marked ' N. E. R.' and ' 0. B. J.'), 
boxes of homoeopathic pills (about the size of a child's head), 
immense saws and knives, skeletons of animals, &c. ; over 
which preside the surgeon and his assistant in appropriate 
dresses, with tin spectacles. This surgeon is generally the 
chief feature of the parade, and his reports are astonishing 
additions to the surgical lore of our country. He is the wit 
of the College, — the one who above all others is celebrated 
for the loudest laugh, the deepest bumper, the best joke, and 
the poorest song. How well he sustains his reputation may 
be known by listening to his annual reading, or by reference 
to the reports of ' Trotwood,' ' Gubbins,' or ' Deppity Saw- 
bones,' who at different times have immortalized themselves 
by their contributions to science. The cavalcade is preceded 
by the ' pioneers,' who clear the way for the advancing troops ; 
which is generally effected by the panic among the boys, 
occasioned by the savage aspect of the pioneers, — ■■ their faces 
being hideously painted, and their dress consisting of glean- 
ings from every costume. Christian, Pagan, and- Turkish, 
known among men. As the body passes through the differ- 
ent streets, the martial men receive sundry testimonials of 
regard and approval in the shape of boquets and wi-eaths 
from the fair * Peruvians,' who of course bestow them on 
those who, in their opinion, have best succeeded in the object 
of the day, — uncouth appearance. After the ceremonies, the 
students quietly congregate in some room in college to count 
these favors and to ascertain who is to be considered the hero 
of the day, as having rendered himself pre-eminently ridicu- 
lous. This honor generally falls to the lot of the surgeon. 
As the sun sinks behind the Adirondacs over the lake, the 
parade ends ; the many lookers-on having nothing to see 
but the bright visions of the next year's training, retire to 
their homes ; while the now weary students, gathered in 
knots in the windows of the upper stories, lazily and com- 
fortably puff their black pipes, and watch the lessening forms 
of the retreating countrymen." 

Further to elucidate the peculiarities of the June Training, 



AND CUSTOMS. 275 

the annexed account of the custom, as it was observed on the 
first Wednesday in June of the current year, is here inserted, 
taken from the " Daily Free Press," pubHshed at Burling- 
ton, June 8th, 1855. 

" The annual parade of the principal military body in Ver- 
mont is an event of importance. The first Wednesday in 
June, the day assigned to it, is becoming the great day of the 
year in Burlington. Already it rivals, if it does not exceed, 
Commencement day in glory and honor. The people crowd 
in from the adjoining towns, the steamboats bring numbers 
from across the lake, and the inhabitants of the town turn 
out in full force. The yearly recurrence of such scenes 
shows the fondness of the people for a hearty laugh, and the 
general acceptableness of the entertainment provided. 

" The day of the parade this year was a very favorable 
one, — without dust, and neither too hot nor too cold for com- 
fort. The performances properly — or rather ^mproperly — 
commenced in the small hours of the night previous by the 
discharge of a cannon in front of the college buildings, which, 
as the cannon was stupidly or wantonly pointed towards the 
college buildings, blew in several hundred panes of glass. 
We have not heard that anybody laughed at this piece of 
heavy wit. 

" At four o'clock in the afternoon, the Invincibles took up 
their line of march, with scream of fife and roll of drum, down 
Pearl Street to the Square, where the flying artillery dis- 
charged a grand national salute of one gun ; thence to the 
Exchange, where a halt was made and a refreshment of water 
partaken of by the company, and then to the Square in front 
of the American, where they were duly paraded, reviewed, 
exhorted, and reported upon, in presence of two or three thou- 
sand people. 

" The scene presented was worth seeing. The windows of 
the American and Wheeler's Block had all been taken out, 
and were filled with bright female faces ; the roofs of the 
same buildings were lined with spectators, and the top of the 
portico of the American was a condensed mass of loveliness 



276 COLLEGE WORDS 

and bright colors. The Town Hall windows, steps, doors, 
&c. were also filled. Every good look-out anywhere near 
the spot was occupied, and a dense mass of by-standers and 
lookers-on in carriages crowded the southern part of the 
Square. 

" Of the cortege itself, the pencil of a Hogarth only could 
give an adequate idea. The valorous Colonel Brick was of 
course the centre of all eyes. He was fitly supported by his 
two aids. The three were in elegant uniforms, were hand- 
somely mounted, rode well and with gallant bearing, and pre- 
sented a particularly attractive appearance. 

" Behind them appeared a scarlet robe, surmounted by a 
white wig of Brobdinagian dimensions and spectacles to 
match, which it is supposed contained in the interior the 
physical system of the Eeverendissimus Boanerges Diogenes 
Lanternarius, Chaplain, the whole mounted upon the verte- 
brae of a solemn-looking donkey. 

" The representative of the Church Militant was properly 
backed up by the Flying Artillery. Their banner announced 
that they were ' for the reduction of Sebastopol,' and it is 
safe to say that they will certainly take that fortress, if they 
get a chance. If the Russians hold out against those four 
ghostly steeds, tandem, with then* bandy-legged and kettle- 
stomached riders, — that gun, so strikingly like a joint of old 
stove-pipe in its exterior, but which upon occasion could vomit 
forth your real smoke and sound and smell of unmistakable 
brimstone, — and those slashed and blood-stained artillery- 
men, — they will do more than anybody did on Wednesday. 

"The T. I. N. Horn-et Band, with Sackbut, Psaltery, 
Dulcimer, and Shawm, Tanglang, Locofodeon, and Hugag, 
marched next. They reserved their efforts for special occa- 
sions, when they woke the echoes with strains of altogether 
unearthly music, composed for them expressly by Saufylur, 
the eminent self-taught New Zealand composer. 

" Barnum's Baby-Show, on four wheels, in charge of the 
great showman himself, aided by that experienced nurse, 
Mrs. Gamp, in somewhat dilapidated attire, followed. The 



AND CUSTOMS. 277 

babies, from a span long to an indefinite length, of all shapes 
and sizes, black, white, and snufF-colOred, twins, triplets, quar- 
tettes, and quincunxes, in calico and sackcloth, and in a state 
of nature, filled the vehicle, and were hung about it by the leg 
or neck or middle. A half-starved quadruped of osseous and 
slightly equine appearance drew the concern, and the shriek- 
ing axles drowned the cries of the innocents. 

" Mr. Joseph Hiss and Mrs. Patterson of Massachusetts 
were not absent. Joseph's rubicund complexion, brassy and 
distinctly Know-Nothing look, and nasal organ well developed 
by his experience on the olfactory committee, were just what 
might have been expected. The ' make up ' of Mrs. P., a 
bright brunette, was capital, and she looked the woman, if not 
the lady, to perfection. The two appeared in a handsome 
livery buggy, paid for, we suppose, by the State of Massa- 
chusetts. 

" A wagon-load of two or three tattered and desperate look- 
ing individuals, labelled ' Recruits for the Crimea,' with a 
generous supply of old iron and brick-bats as material of war, 
was dragged along by the frame and most of the skin of what 
was once a horse. 

" Towards the rear, but by no means least in consequence 
or in the amount of attention attracted, was the army hos- 
pital, drawn by two staid and well-fed oxen. In front ap- 
peared the snowy locks and 'fair round belly, with good 
cotton lined ' of the worthy Dr. Esculapius Liverwort Tarand 
Cantchuget-urlegawa Opodeldoc, while by his side his assist- 
ant sawbones brayed in a huge iron mortar, with a weighty 
pestle, much noise, and indefatigable zeal, the drugs and dye- 
stuffs. Thigh-bones, shoulder-blades, vertebrae, and even 
skulls, hanging round the establishment, testified to the nu- 
merous and successful amputations performed by the skilful 
surgeon. 

" Noticeable among the cavalry were Don Quixote de la 

U. V. M., Knight of the patent-leather gaiters, terrible in his 

bright rectangular cuirass of tin (once a tea-chest), and his 

glittering harpoon ; his doughty squire, Sancho Panza ; and a 

24 



278 COLLEGE WORDS 

dashing young lady, whose tasteful riding-dress of black cam- 
bric, wealth of embroidered skirts and undersleeves, and bold 
riding, took not a little attention. 

" Of the rank and file on foot it is useless to attempt a de- 
scription. Beards of awful size, moustaches of every shade 
and length under a foot, phizzes of all colors and contortions, 
four-story hats with sky-scraping feathers, costumes ring- 
streaked, speckled, monstrous, and incredible, made up the 
motley crew. There was a Northern emigrant just returned 
from Kansas, with garments torn and water-soaked, and but 
half cleaned of the adhesive tar and feathers, watched closely 
by a burly Missourian, with any quantity of hair and fire-arms 
and bowie-knives. There were Rev. Antoinette Brown, and 
Neal Dow ; there was a darky whose banner proclaimed his 
faith in Stowe and Seward and Parker, an aboriginal from 
the prairies, an ancient minstrel with a modern fiddle, and a 
modern minstrel with an ancient hurdy-gurdy. All these and 
more. Each man was a study in himself, and to all, Falstaff's 
description of his recruits would apply : — 

" ' My whole charge consists of corporals, lieutenants, gentlemen 
of companies, slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth, where 
the glutton's dogs licked his sores ; the cankers of a calm world and 
a long peace ; ten times more dishonorable ragged than an old-faced 
ancient : and such have I, that you would think I had a hundred and 
fifty tattered prodigals lately come from swine-keeping, from eating 
draff and husks. A mad fellow met me on the way and told me I 
had unloaded all the gibbets and pressed the dead bodies. No eye 
hath seen such scarecrows.' 

" The proceedings on the review were exciting. After the 
calling of the roll, the idol of his regiment. Col. Martin Van 
Buren Brick, discharged an eloquent and touching speech. 

" From the report of Dr. Opodeldoc, which was thirty-six 
feet in length, we can of course give but a few extracts. He 
commenced by informing the Invincibles that his cures the 
year past had been more astounding than ever, and that his 
fame would continue to grow brighter and brighter, until 
eclipsed by the advent of some younger Dr. Esculapius Liv- 



AND CUSTOMS. 279 

erwort Tar Cant-ye-get-your-leg-away Opodeldoc, who in 
after years would shoot up like . a meteor and reproduce his 
father's greatness ; and went on as follows : — 

" ' The first academic that appeared after the last report 
was the desideratum graduatere, or graduating fever. Twenty- 
seven were taken down. Symptoms, morality in the head, — 
dignity in the walk, — hints about graduating, — remarkable 
tendency to swell, — literary movement of the superior and 
inferior maxillary bones, &c., &c. Strictures on bleeding 
were first applied; then treating homoeopathically similis 
similihus, applied roots extracted, roots Latin and Greek, 
infinitesimal extracts of calculus, mathematical formulas, 
psychological inductions, &c., &;c. No avail. Finally ap- 
plied huge sheep-skin plasters under the axilla, with a com- 
position of printers' ink, paste, paper, ribbons, and writing-ink 
besmeared thereon, and all were despatched in one short 
day. 

" ' Sophomore Exhibition furnished many cases. One man 
hit by a Soph-bug, drove eye down into stomach, carrying 
with it brains and all inside of the head. In order to draw 
them back to their proper place, your Surgeon caused a leaf 
from Barnum's Autobiography to be placed on patient's head, 
thinking that to contain more true, genuine suction than any- 
thing yet discovered. 

" * Nebraska cancers have appeared in our ranks, especially 
in Missouri division. Surgeon recommends 385 eighty-pound- 
ers be loaded to the muzzle, first with blank cartridges, — to 
wit, Frank Pierce and Stephen A. Douglas, Free-Soil ser- 
mons. Fern Leaves, Hot Corn, together with all the fancy 
literature of the day, — and cause the same to be fired 
upon the disputed territory ; this would cause all the break- 
ings out to be removed, and drive off everybody.' 

" The close of -the report was as follows. It affected many 
even to tears. 

" ' May you all remember your Surgeon, and may your 
thoracic duck ever continue to sail peacefully down the com- 



280 COLLEGE WORDS 

mon carrotted arteries, under the keystone of the arch of 
the aorta, and not rush madly mto the abominable cavity and 
eclipse the semi-lunar dandehons, nor, still worse, play the 
dickens with the pneumogastric nerve and auxiliary artery, 
reverse the doododen, upset the flamingo, irritate the high-old- 
glossus, and be for ever lost in the receptaculum chyli. No, 
no, but, &c. Yours feelingly, 

' Dr. E. L. T. C. O., M. D.' 

" Dr. O., we notice, has added a new branch, that of den- 
tistry, to his former accomplishments. By his new system, 
his customers are not obliged to undergo the pain of the op- 
erations in person, but, by merely sending their heads to him, 
can have everything done with a great decrease of trouble. 
From a calf's head thus sent in, the Doctor, after cutting the 
gums with a hay-cutter, and filing between the teeth with 
a wood-saw, skilfully extracted with a pair of blacksmith's 
tongs a very great number of molars and incisors. 

" Miss Lucy Amazonia Crura Longa Lignea, thirteen feet 
high, and Mr. Battleshanks Don Skyphax, a swain a foot 
taller, advanced from the ranks, and were made one by the 
chaplain. The bride promised to own the groom, but pro- 
tested formally against his custody of her person, property, or 
progeny. The groom pledged himself to mend the unmen- 
tionables of his spouse, or to resign his own when required, 
to rock the cradle, and spank the babies. He placed no ring 
upon her finger, but instead transferred his whiskers to her 
face, when the chaplain pronounced them ' wife and man,' 
and the happy pair stalked off, their heads on a level with 
the second-story windows. 

" Music from the Keeseville Band who were present fol- 
lowed ; the flying artillery fired another salute ; the fife and 
drums struck up ; and the Invincibles took their winding way 
to the University, where they were disbanded in good season." 
JUNIOR. One in the third year of his collegiate course in an 
American college, formerly called Junior Sophister. 

See Sophister. 

2. One in the first year of his course at a theological sem- 
inaiy. — Wehster. 



AND CUSTOMS. 281 

JUNIOR. Noting the third year of the collegiate course in 
American colleges, or the first year in the theological semi- 
naries. — Wehster. 

JUNIOR APPOINTMENTS. At Yale CoHege, there ap- 
pears yearly, in the papers conducted by the students, a bur- 
lesque imitation of the regular appointments of the Junior 
exhibition. These mock appointments are generally of a 
satirical nature, referring to peculiarities of habits, character, 
or manners. The following, taken from some of the Yale 
newspapers, may be considered as specimens of the subjects 
usually assigned. Philosophical Oration, given to one dis- 
guished for a certain peculiarity, subject, " The Advantage 
of a Great Breadth of Base." Latin Oration, to a vain per- 
son, subject, "Amor Sui." Dissertations: to a meddling 
person, subject, "The Busybody"; to a poor punster, sub- 
ject, " Diseased Razors " ; to a poor scholar, subject, " Flunk 
on, — flunk ever." Colloquy, to a joker whose wit was not 
estimated, subject, "Unappreciated Facetiousness." When 
a play upon names is attempted, the subject " Perfect Loose- 
ness " is assigned to Mr. Slack ; Mr. Barnes discourses upon 
" Stability of character, or pull down and build greater " ; 
Mr. Todd treats upon " The Student's Manual," and incen- 
tives to action are presented, based on the line 

" Lives of great men all remind us," 

by students who rejoice in the Christian names, George Wash- 
ington, Patrick Henry, Martin Van Buren, Andrew Jackson, 
Charles James Fox, and Henry Clay. 
See Mock Part. 

JUNIOR BACHELOR. One who is in his first year after 
taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

No Junior Bachelor shall continue in the College after the com- 
mencement in the Summer vacation. — Laws of Harv. Coll., 1798, 
p. 19. 

JUNIOR FELLOW. At Oxford, one who stands upon the 
foundation of the college to which he belongs, and is an as- 
pirant for academic emoluments. — De Quincey. 

24* 



282 COLLEGE WORDS 

2. At Trinity College, Hartford, a Junior Fellow is one 
chosen by the House of Convocation to be a member of the 
examining committee for three years. Junior Fellows must 
have attained the M. A. degree, and can only be voted for by 
Masters in Arts. Six Junior Fellows are elected every three 
years. 

JUNIOR FRESHMAN. The name of the first of the four 
classes into which undergraduates are divided at Trinity Col- 
lege, Dublin. 

JUNIOR OPTIME. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
those who occupy the third rank in honors, at the close 
of the final examination in the Senate-House, are called 
Junior Optimes. 

The third class, or that of Junior Optimes, is usually about as 
numerous as the first [that of the Wranglers], but its hmits are 
more extensive, varying from twenty-five to sixty. A majority of 
the Classical men are in it ; the rest of its contents are those who 
have broken down before the examination from iU-health or lazi- 
ness, and choose the Junior Optime as an easier pass degree under 
their circumstances than the Poll, and those who break down in the 
examination ; among these last may be sometimes found an expect- 
ant Wrangler. — BrhtecVs Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, 
p. 228. 

The word is frequently abbreviated. 

Two years ago he got up enough of his low subjects to go out 
among the Junior Ops. — Ihid., p. 53. 

There are only two mathematical papers, and these consist almost 
entirely of high questions ; what a Junior Op. or low Senior Op. 
can do in them amounts to nothing. — Ihid.^ p. 28G. 

JUNIOR SOPHISTER. At the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., a student in the second year of his residence is called a 
Junior Soph or Sophister. 

2. In some American colleges, a member of the Junior 
Class, i. e. of the third year, was formerly designated a Junior 
Sophister. 

See Sophister. 



AND CUSTOMS. 283 



K. 



KEEP. To lodge, live, dwell, or inhabit. To keep in such a 
place, is to have rooms there. This word, though formerly 
used extensively, is now confined to colleges and universities. 

Inquire of anybody you meet in the court of a college at Cam- 
bridge your way to Mr. A 's room, you will be told that he 

keeps on such a staircase, up so many pair of stairs, door to the 
right or left. — Forty's Vocabulary, Vol. 11. p. 178. 

He said I ought to have asked for his rooms, or inquired where 
he kept. — Gent. Mag., 1795, p. 118. 

Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, cites this very apposite pas- 
sage from Shakespeare : " Knock at the study where they say 
he keeps." Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, says of the 
word : " This is noted as an Americanism in the Monthly 
Anthology, Vol. V. p. 428. It is less used now than for- 
merly." 

To keep an act, in the English universities, " to perform an 
exercise in the public schools preparatory to the proceeding 
in degrees." The phrase was formerly in use in Harvard 
College. In an account in the Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. I. p. 
245, entitled New England's First Fruits, is the following in 
reference to that institution : " The students of the first classis 
that have beene these foure yeeres trained up in University 
learning, and are approved for their manners, as they have 
kept their puhlick Acts in former yeeres, ourselves being pres- 
ent at them ; so have they lately kept two solemn Acts for 
their Commencement." 

To keep chapel, in colleges, to attend Divine services, which 
are there performed daily. 

" As you have failed to make up your number of chapels the last 
two weeks," such are the very words of the Dean, " you will, if 
you please, ytee/) every chapel till the end of the term." — Household 
TFor^, Vol. II. p. 161. 

To keep a term, in universities, is to reside during a term. 
— Webster. 



284 COLLEGE WORDS 

KEYS. Caius, the name of one of the colleges in the Univer- 
sity of Cambridge, Eng., is famihariy pronounced Keys. 

KINGSMAN. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a 
member of King's College. 

He came out the winner, with the Kingsman and one of our three 
close at his heels. — Bristed's Five Years in aji Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, 
p. 127. 

KITCHEN-HATCH. A half-door between the kitchen and 
the hall in colleges and old mansions. At Harvard College, 
the students in former times received at the kitchen-hatch 
their food for the evening meal, which they were allowed to 
eat in the yard or at their rooms. At the same place the 
waiters also took the food which they carried to the tables. 

The waiters when the bell rings at meal-time shall take the vict- 
uals at the kitchen-hatch, and carry the same to the several tables 
for which they are designed. — Laws Harv. Coll., 1798, p. 41. 
See Buttert-Hatch. 

KNOCK IN. A phrase used at Oxford, and thus explained in 
the Collegian's Guide : " Knoching in late, or coming into 
college after eleven or twelve o'clock, is punished frequently 
with being ^ confined to gates,' or being forbidden to ' knock 
in ' or come in after nine o'clock for a week or more, some- 
times all the term." — p. 161. 

KNUCKS. From Knuckles. At some of the Southern col- 
leges, a game at marbles called Knucks is a common diversion 
among the students. 

KCSos. Greek ; literally, glory, fame. Used among students, 
with the meaning credit, reputation. 

I was actuated not merely by a desire after the promotion of my 
own Kvho9, but by an honest wish to represent my country well. — 
Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, pp. 27, 28. 



AND CUSTOMS. 285 



LANDSMANNSCHAFT. German. The name of an asso- 
ciation of students in German universities. 

LAP-EAR. At Washington College, Penn., students of a 
religious character are called lap-ears or donheys. The op- 
posite class are known by the common name of hloods. 

LATIN SPOKEN AT COLLEGES. At our older Ameri- 
can colleges, students were formerly required to be able to 
speak and write Latin before admission, and to continue the 
use of it after they had become members. In his History of 
Harvard University, Quincy remarks on this subject : — 

" At a period when Latin was the common instrument of 
communication among the learned, and the oiSicial language 
of statesmen, great attention was naturally paid to this branch 
of education. Accordingly, ^to speak true Latin, both in 
prose and verse,' was made an essential requisite for admis- 
sion. Among the * Laws and Liberties ' of the College we 
also find the following : ' The scholars shall never use their 
mother tongue, except that, in public exercises of oratory or 
such like, they be called to make them in English.' This 
law appears upon the records of the College in the Latin as 
well as in the English language. The terms in the former 
are indeed less restrictive and more practical : * Scholares 
vernacula lingua, intra Collegii limites, nullo pretextu uten- 
tur.' There is reason to believe that those educated at the 
College, and destined for the learned professions, acquired an 
adequate acquaintance with the Latin, and those destined to 
become divines, with the Greek and Hebrew. In other re- 
spects, although the sphere of instruction was limited, it was 
sufficient for the age and country, and amply supplied all their 
purposes and wants." — Vol. I. pp. 193, 194. 

By the laws of 1734, the undergraduates were required to 
" declaim publicly in the hall, in one of the three learned 
languages ; and in no other without leave or direction from 
the President." The observance of this rule seems to have 



286 COLLEGE WORDS 

been first laid aside, when, " at an Overseers' meeting at the 
College, Apiil 27th, 1756, John Vassall, Jonathan Allen, 
Tristram Gilman, Thomas Toppan, Edward Walker, Samuel 
Barrett, presented themselves before the Board, and pro- 
nounced, in the respective characters assigned them, a dialogue 
in the English tongue, translated from Castalio, and then with- 
drew." — Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., p. 240. 

The first English Oration was spoken by Mr. Jedediah 
Huntington in the year 1763, and the first English Poem by 
Mr. John Davis in 1781. 

In reference to this subject, as connected with Yale College, 
President Woolsey remarks, in his Historical Discourse : — 

" With regard to practice in the learned languages, partic- 
ularly the Latin, it is prescribed that ' no scholar shall use 
the English tongue in the College with liis fellow-scholars, 
unless he be called to a pubhc exercise proper to be attended 
in the English tongue, but scholars in their chambers, and 
when they are together, shall talk Latin.' " — p. 59. 

" The fluent use of Latin was acquired by the great body 
of the students ; nay, certain phrases were caught up by the 
very cooks in the kitchen. Yet it cannot be said that elegant 
Latin was either spoken or written. There was not, it would 
appear, much practice in writing this language, except on the 
part of those who were candidates for Berkeleian prizes. And 
the extant specimens of Latin discourses written by the offi- 
cers of the College in the past century are not eminently 
Ciceronian in their style. The speakmg of Latin, which was 
kept up as the College dialect in rendering excuses for ab- 
sences, in syllogistic disputes, and in much of the intercourse 
between the officers and students, became nearly extinct 
about the time of Dr. Dwight's accession. And at the same 
period syllogistic disputes as distinguished from forensic seem 
to have entirely ceased." — p: 62. 

The following story is from the Sketches of Yale College. 
" La former times, the students were accustomed to assemble 
together to render excuses for absence in Latin. One of the 
Presidents was in the habit of answering to almost every ex- 



AND CUSTOMS. 287 

cuse presented, ' Ratio non sufficit ' (The reason is not suffi- 
cient). On one occasion, a young man who had died a short 
time previous was called upon for an excuse. Some one 
answered, 'Mortuusest' (He is dead). ' Ratio non sufficit,' 
repeated the grave President, to the infinite merriment of his 
auditors." — p. 182. 

The story is current of one of the old Presidents of Har- 
vard College, that, wishing to have a dog that had strayed in 
at evening prayers driven out of the Chapel, he exclaimed, 
half in Latin and half in English, " Exclude canem, et shut 
the door." It is also related that a Freshman who had been 
shut up in the buttery by some Sophomores, and had on that 
account been absent from a recitation, when called upon with 
a number of others to render an excuse, not knowing how to 
express his ideas in Latin, replied in as learned a manner as 
possible, hoping that his answer would pass as Latin, " Shut 
m' up in t' Buttery." 

A very pleasant story, entitled "The Tutor's Ghost," in 
which are narrated the misfortunes which befell a tutor in the 
olden time, on account of his inability to remember the Latin 
for the word " beans," while engaged in conversation, may 
be found in the " Yale Literary Magazine," Vol. XX. pp. 
190-195. 

See Non Paravi and Non Valui. 

LAUREATE. To honor with a degree in the university, and 
a present of a wreath of laurel. — Warton. 

LAUREATION. The act of conferring a degree in the uni- 
versity, together with a wreath of laurel ; an honor bestowed 
on those who excelled in writing verse. This was an ancient 
practice at Oxford, from which, probably, originated the de- 
nomination oi-poet laureate. — Warton. 

The laurel crown, according to Brande, " was customarily 
given at the universities in the Middle Ages to such persons 
as took degrees in grammar and rhetoric, of which poetry 
formed a branch ; whence, according to some authors, the 
term Baccalaureatus has been derived. The academical cys- 



288 COLLEGE WORDS 

torn of bestowing the laurel, and the court custom, were dis- 
tinct, until the former was abolished. The last instance in 
which the laurel was bestowed in the universities, was in the 
reign of Henry the Eighth. 
LAWS. In early times, the laws in the oldest colleges in the 
United States were as often in Latin as in English. They 
were usually in manuscript, and the students were required 
to make copies for themselves on entering college. The 
Rev. Henry Dunster, who was the first President of Harvard 
College, formed the first code of laws for the College. They 
were styled, " The Laws, Liberties, and Orders of Harvard 
College, confirmed by the Overseers and President of the 
College in the years 1642, 1643, 1644, 1645, and 1646, and 
published to the scholars for the perpetual preservation of 
their welfare and government." Referring to him, Quincy 
says : " Under his administration, the first code of laws was 
formed ; rules of admission, and the principles on which de- 
grees should be granted, were established; and scholastic 
forms, similar to those customary in the English universities, 
were adopted ; many of which continue, with little variation, 
to be used at the present time." — Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. L 
p. 15. 

In 1732, the laws were revised, and it was voted that they 
should all be in Latin, and that each student should have a 
copy, which he was to write out for himself and subscribe. 
In 1790, they were again revised and printed in English, 
since which time many editions have been issued. 

Of the laws of Yale College, President Woolsey gives the 
following account, in his Historical Discourse before the 
Graduates of that institution, Aug. 14, 1850 : — 

" In the very first year of the legal existence of the Col- 
lege, we find the Trustees ordaining, that, ' until they should 
provide further, the Rector or Tutors should make use of the 
orders and institutions of Harvard College, for the instructing 
and ruhng of the collegiate school, so far as they should judge 
them suitable, and wherein the Trustees had not at that meet- 
ing made provision.' The regulations then made by the Trus- 



AND CUSTOMS. 289 

tees went no further than to provide for the religious educa- 
tion of the College, and to give to the College officers the 
poAver of imposing extraordinary school exercises or degra- 
dation in the class. The earliest known laws of the College 
belong to the years 1720 and 1726, and are in manuscript; 
which is explained by the custom that every Freshman, on 
his admission, was required to write off a copy of them for 
himself, to which the admittatur of the officers was sub- 
scribed. In the year 1745 a new revision of the laws was 
completed, which exists in manuscript ; but the first printed 
code was in Latin, and issued from the press of T. Green 
at New London, in 1748. Various editions, with sundry 
changes in them, appeared between that time and the year 
1774, when the first edition in English saw the light. 

" It is said of this edition, that it was printed by particular 
order of the Legislature. That honorable body, being im- 
portuned to extend aid to the College, not long after the time 
when President Clap's measures had excited no inconsider- 
able ill-will, demanded to see the laws ; and accordingly a 
bundle of the Latin laws — the only ones in existence — 
were sent over to the State-House. Not admiring legislation 
in a dead language, and being desirous to pry into the mys- 
teries which it sealed up from some of the members, they 
ordered the code to be translated. From that time the num- 
berless editions of the laws have all been in the English 
tongue." — pp. 45, 46. 

The College of William and Mary, which was founded in 
1693, imitated in its laws and customs the English universi- 
ties, but especially the University of Oxford. The other 
colleges which were founded before the Revolution, viz. 
New Jersey College, Columbia College, Pennsylvania Uni- 
versity, Brown University, Dartmouth, and Rutgers College, 
"generally imitated Harvard in the order of classes, the 
course of studies, the use of text-books, and the manner 
of instruction." — Am. Quart Reg., Vol. XV. 1843, p. 
426. 

The colleges which were founded after the Revolution 
25 



290 COLLEGE WORDS 

compiled their laws, in a great measure, from those of the 
above-named colleges. 

LEATHER MEDAL. At Harvard College, the Leather 
Medal was formerly bestowed upon the laziest fellow in 
College. He was to be last at recitation, last at commons, 
seldom at morning prayers, and always asleep in church. 

LECTUE-E. A discourse read, as the derivation of the word 
imphes, by a professor to his pupils ; more generally, it is 
apphed to every species of instruction communicated viva 
voce. — Brande. 

Li American colleges, lectures form a part of the colle- 
giate instruction, especially during the last two years, in the 
latter part of which, in some colleges, they divide the time 
nearly equally with recitations. 

2. A rehearsal of a lesson. — Eng. Univ. 

Of this word, De Quincey says : " But what is the meaning 
of a lecture in Oxford and elsewhere ? Elsewhere, it means 
a solemn dissertation, read, or sometimes histrionically de- 
claimed, by the professor. In Oxford, it means an exercise 
performed orally by the students, occasionally assisted by the 
tutor, and subject, in its whole course, to his corrections, and 
what may be called his scholia, or collateral suggestions and 
improvements." — Life and Manners, p. 253. 

LECTURER. At the University of Cambridge, England, the 
lecturers assist in tuition, and especially attend to the exercises 
of the students in Greek and Latin composition, themes, dec- 
lamations, verses, &c. — Cam. Guide. 

LEM. At Williams College, a privy. 

Night had thrown its mantle over earth. Sol had gone to lay 
his weary head in the lap of Thetis, as friend Hudibras has it. 
The horned moon, and the sweet pale stars, were looking serenely 
upon the darkened earth, when the denizens of this little village 
were disturbed by the cry of fire. The engines would have been 
rattling through the streets with considerable alacrity, if the fathers 
of the town had not neglected to provide them ; but the energetic 
citizens were soon on hand. There was much difficulty in finding 



AND CUSTOMS. 291 

where the fire was, and heads and feet were turned in various 
directions, till at length some wight of superior optical powers dis- 
covered a faint, ruddy light in the rear of West College. It was 
an ancient building, — a time-honored structure, — an edifice 
erected by our forefathers, and by them christened Lemuel, 
which in the vernacular tongue is called Lem " for short." The 
dimensions of the edifice were about 120 by 62 inches. The loss 
is almost irreparable, estimated at not less than 2,000 pounds, 
avoirdupois. May it rise like a Phoenix from its ashes! — Wil- 
Uams Monthhj Miscellany, 1845, Vol. I. p. 464, 465. 

LETTER HOME. A writer in the American Literary Mag- 
azine thus explains and remarks upon the custom of pun- 
ishing students by sending a letter to their parents : — " Li 
some institutions, there is what is called the ' letter home^ — 
which, however, in justice to professors and tutors in general, 
we ought to say, is a punishment inflicted upon parents for 
sending their sons to college, rather than upon delinquent 
students. A certain number of absences from matins or 
vespers, or from recitations, entitles the culprit to a heart- 
rending epistle, addressed, not to himself, but to his anxious 
father or guardian at home. The document is always con- 
ceived in a spirit of severity, in order to make it likely to 
take effect. It is meant to be impressive, less by the hei- 
nousness of the offence upon which it is predicated, than by 
the pregnant terms in which it is couched. It often creates 
a misery and anxiety far away from the place wherein it is 
indited, not because it is understood, but because it is mis- 
understood and exaggerated by the recipient. While the 
student considers it a farcical proceeding, it is a leaf of trage- 
dy to fathers and mothers. Then the thing is explained. 
The offence is sifted. The father finds out that less than 
a dozen morning naps are all that is necessary to bring 
about this stupendous correspondence. The moral effect of 
the act of discipline is neutralized, and the parent is per- 
haps too glad, at finding his anxiety all but groundless, to 
denounce the puerile, infant-school system, which he has 
been made to comprehend by so painful a process." — Vol. 
rV. p. 402. 



292 COLLEGE WORDS 

Avaunt, ye terrific dreams of " failures,' " conditions," " letters 
home" and "admonitions." — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. III. p. 407. 

The birch twig sprouts into — letters home and dismissions. — 
Ibid., Vol. Xni. p. 369. 

But if they, capricious through long indulgence, did not choose 
to get up, what then ? Why, absent marks and letters home. — 
Yale Banger, Oct. 22, 1847. 

He thinks it very hard that the faculty write " letters home."-^ 
Yale TomahawJc, May, 1852. 

And threats of " Letters home, young man," 
Now cause us no alarm. 

Presentation Day Song, June 14, 1854. 

LIBERTY TREE. At Harvard College, a tree which for- 
merly stood between Massachusetts and Harvard Halls re- 
ceived, about the year 1760, the name of the Liberty Tree, 
on an occasion which is mentioned in Hutchinson's posthu- 
mous volume of the History of Massachusetts Bay. " The 
spirit of liberty," says he, " spread where it was not intended. 
The Undergraduates of Harvard College had been long used 
to make excuses for absence from prayers and college ex- 
ercises ; pretending detention at their chambers by then* 
parents, or friends, who come to visit them. The tutors 
came into an agreement not to admit such excuses, unless 
the scholar came to the tutor, before prayers or college ex- 
ercises, and obtained leave to be absent. This gave such 
offence, that the scholars met in a body, under and about a 
great tree, to which they gave the name* of the tree of lib- 
erty ! There they came into several resolves in favor of 
liberty ; one of them, that the rule or order of the tutors was 
unconstitutional. The windows of some of the tutors were 
broken soon after, by persons unknown. Several of the 
scholars were suspected, and examined. One of them falsely 
reported that he had been confined without victuals or drink, 
in order to compel him to a confession ; and another declared, 
that he had seen him under this confinement. This caused 
an attack upon the tutors, and brickbats were thrown into 
the room, where they had met together in the evening, 



AND CUSTOMS. 293 

through the windows. Three or four of the rioters were dis- 
covered and expelled. The three junior classes went to the 
President, and desired to give up their chambers, and to leave 
the college. The fourth class, which was to remain but 
about three months, and then to be admitted to their degrees, 
applied to the President for a recommendation to the college 
in Connecticut, that thej might be admitted there. The 
Overseers of the College met on the occasion, and, by a vig- 
orous exertion of the powers with which they v/ere intrusted, 
strengthened the hands of the President and tutors, by con- 
firming the expulsions, and declaring their resolution to sup- 
port the subordinate government of the College; and the 
scholars were brought to a sense and acknowledgment of 
their fault, and a stop was put to the revolt." — Vol. III. 
p. 187. 

Some years after, this tree was either blown or cut down, 
and the name was transferred to another. A few of the 
old inhabitants of Cambridge remember the stump of the 
former Liberty Tree, but all traces of it seem to have been 
removed before the year 1800. The present Liberty Tree 
stands between Holden Chapel and Harvard Hall, to the 
west of Hollis. As early as the year 1815 there were 
gatherings under its branches on Class Day, and it is proba- 
ble that this was the case even at an earlier date. At pres- 
ent it is customary for the members of the Senior Class, at 
the close of the exercises incident to Class Day, (the day 
on which the members of that class finish their collegiate 
studies, and retire to make preparations for the ensuing Com- 
mencement,) after cheering the buildings, to encircle this 
tree, and, with hands joined, to sing their favorite ballad, 
" Auld Lang Syne." They then run and dance around it, 
and afterwards cheer their own class, the other classes, and 
many of the College professors. At parting, each takes a 
sprig or a flower from the beautiful wreath which. is hung 
around the tree, and this is sacredly preserved as a last me- 
mento of the scenes and enjoyments of college life. 

In the poem delivered before the Class of 1849, on their 
25* 



294 COLLEGE AVORDS 

Class Day, occur the following beautiful stanzas in memory 
of departed classmates, in which reference is made to some of 
the customs mentioned above : — 

" They are listening now to our parting prayers ; 
And the farewell song that we pour 
Their distant voices will echo 
From the far-off spirit shore ; 

" And the wreath that we break with our scattered band, 
As it twines round the aged elm, — 
Its fragments we '11 keep with a sacred hand, 
But the fragrance shall rise to them. 

•' So to-day we will dance right merrily, 

An unbroken band, round the old ehn-tree ; 
And they shall not ask for a greener shrine 
Than the hearts of the class of '49." 

Its grateful shade has in later times been used for purposes 
similar to those which Hutchinson records, as the accompany- 
ing lines will show, written in commemoration of the Eebel- 
lion of 1819. 

" Wreaths to the chiefs who our rights have defended ; 
Hallowed and blessed be the Liberty Tree : 
Where Lenox * his pies 'neath its shelter hath vended. 
We Sophs have assembled, and sworn to be free." 

The Itehelliad, p. 54. 

The poet imagines the spirits of the different trees in the 
College yard assembled under the Liberty Tree to utter their 
sorrows. 

" It was not many centuries since, 

When, gathered on the moonht green, 
Beneath the Tree of Liberty, 

A ring of weeping sprites was seen." 
Meeting of the Dryads, f Holmes's Poems, p . 1 2 . 
It is sometimes called " the Farewell Tree," for obvious 
reasons. 

* A black man who sold pies and cakes. 

t Written after a general pruning of the trees around Harvard College. 



AND CUSTOMS. 295 

" Just fifty years ago, good friends, a young and gallant band 
Were dancing round the Farewell Tree, — each hand in comrade's 
hand." 

Song, at Semi-centennial Anniversary ofilie Class o/1798. 
See Class Day. 
LICEAT MIGRARE. Latin ; literally, let it he permitted 
him to remove. 

At Oxford, a form of modified dismissal from College. 
This punishment " is usually the consequence of mental in- 
efficiency rather than moral obliquity, and does not hinder 
the student so dismissed from entering at another college or 
at Cambridge." — ZzV. World, Vol. XII. p. 224. 
Same as Licet Migrari. 
LICET MIGRARI. Latin ; literally, it is permitted him to 
he removed. In the University of Cambridge, England, a 
permission to leave one's college. This differs from the Bene 
Discessit, for although you may leave with consent, it by no 
means follows in this case that you have the approbation of 
the Master and Fellows so to do. — Gradus ad Cantah. 
LIKE A BRICK OR A BEAN, ) Among the students at 
LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE, ["the University of Cam- 
LIKE BRICKS. ) bridge, Eng., intensive 

phrases, to express the most energetic way of doing any- 
thing. " These phrases," observes Bristed, " are sometimes 
in very odd contexts. You hear men talk of a balloon going 
up like hricTcs, and rain coming down like a house on fireV — 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 24. 

Still it was not in human nature for a classical man, living among 
classical men, and knowing that there were a dozen and more close 
to him reading away " like bricks" to be long entirely separated 
from his Greek and Latin books. — Bristed' s Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 218. 

" Like hricks," is the commonest of their expressions, or used to 
be. There was an old landlady at Huntingdon who said she always 
charged Cambridge men twice as much as any one else. Then, 
" How do you know them ? " asked somebody. " O sir, they 
always tell us to get the beer like hricks." — Westminster Rev., Am. 
ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 231. 



296 COLLEGE WORDS 

LITERS HUMANIORES. Latin; freely, the humanities; 
classical literature. At Oxford " the lAterce Humaniores 
now include Latin and Greek Translation and Composition, 
Ancient History and Rhetoric, Political and Moral Philos- 
ophy, and Logic." — X^Y. World, Yol. XIL p. 245. 
See Humanity. 

LITERARY CONTESTS. At JefFerson College, in Penn- 
sylvania, " there is," says a correspondent, " an unusual in- 
terest taken in the two literary societies, and once a year a 
challenge is passed between them, to meet in an open literary 
contest upon an appointed evening, usually that preceding the 
close of the second session. The contestors are a Debater, an 
Orator, an Essayist, and a Declaimer, elected from each 
society by the majority, some time previous to their public 
appearance. An umpire and two associate judges, selected 
either by the societies or by the contestors themselves, pre- 
side over the performances, and award the honors to those 
whom they deem most worthy of them. The greatest excite- 
ment prevails upon this occasion, and an honor thus "conferred 
is preferable to any given in the institution." 

At Washington College, in Pennsylvania, the contest per- 
formances are conducted upon the same principle as at Jef- 
ferson. 

LITTLE-GO. In the EngHsh universities, a cant name for a 
public examination about the middle of the course, which, 
being less strict and less important in its consequences thar 
the final one, has received this appellation. — Lyell. 

Whether a regular attendance on the lecture of the college 
would secure me a qualification against my first public examina- 
tion ; which is here called the Little-go. — The Etonian, Vol. U. 
p. 283. 

Also called at Oxford Smalls, or Small-go. 
You must be prepared with your list of books, your testamur for 
Responsions (by Undergraduates called '■'•Little-go" or ^^ Smalls"), 
and also your certificate of matriculation. — Collegian's Guide, 

- p. 241. 

See Responsion. 



AND CUSTOMS. 297 

LL. B. An abbreviation for Legum Baccalaureus, Bachelor 
of Laws. In American colleges, this degree is conferred on 
students who fulfil the conditions of the statutes of the law 
school to which they belong. The law schools in the differ- 
ent colleges are regulated on this point by different rules, but 
in many the degree of LL. B. is given to a B. A. who has 
been a member of a law school for a year and a half. 
See B. G. L. 

LL. D. An abbreviation for Legum Doctor, Doctor of Laws. 
Li American colleges, an honorary degree, conferred pro 
meritis on those who are distinguished as lawyers, states- 
men, &c. 
See D. C. L. 

L. M. An abbreviation for the words Licentiate in Medicine. 
At the University of Cambridge, Eng., an L. M. must be an 
M. A. or M. B. of two years' standing. No exercise, but 
examination by the Professor and another Doctor in the 
Faculty. 

LOAF. At Princeton College, to borrow anything, whether 
returning it or not ; usually in the latter sense. 

LODGE. At the University of Cambridge, England, the 
technical name given to the house occupied by the master of 
a college. — Bristed. 

"When Undergraduates were invited to the conversaziones at the 
Lodge, they were expected never to sit down in the Master's pres- 
ence. — Bristed' s Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 90. 

LONG. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the long vaca- 
tion, or, as it is more familiarly called, " The Long," com- 
mences according to statute in July, at the close of the Easter 
term, but practically early in June, and ends October 20th, at 
the beginning of the Michaelmas term. 

For a month or six weeks in the " Long," they rambled off to 
see the sights of Paris. — Brisied's Five Years in an Eng . Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 37. 

In the vacations, particularly the Long, there is every facility for 
reading. — Ihid.,-p. 78. 



298 COLLEGE WORDS 

So attractive is the Vacation- College-life that the great trouble 
of the Dons is to keep the men from staying up during the Long. 
— Ihid., p. 79. 

Some were going on reading parties, some taking a hoKday be- 
fore settling down to their work in the '■'•Long." — Ibid., p. 104. 

See Vacation. 

LONG-EAR. At Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, a student 
of a sober or religious character is denominated a long-ear. 
The opposite is short-ear. 

LOTTERY. The method of obtaining money by lottery has 
at different times been adopted in several of our American 
colleges. In 1747, a new building being wanted at Yale 
College, the " Liberty of a Lottery " was obtained from the 
General Assembly, " by which," says Clap, " Five Hundred 
Pounds Sterling was raised, clear of all Charge and Deduc- 
tions." — Hist, of Yale Coll., p. 55. 

Tliis sum defrayed one third of the expense of building 
what was then called Connecticut Hall, and is known now by 
the name of " the South Middle College." 

In 1772, Harvard College being in an embarrassed con- 
dition, the Legislature granted it the benefit of a lottery ; in 
1794 this grant was renewed, and for the purpose of enabling 
the College to erect an additional building. The proceeds of 
the lottery amounted to $ 18,400, which, with $ 5,300 from 
the general funds of the College, were applied to the erection 
of Stoughton Hall, which was completed in 1805. In 1806 
the Legislature again authorized a lottery, which enabled the 
Corporation in 1813 to erect a new building, called Hol- 
worthy Hall, at an expense of about $ 24,500, the lottery 
having produced about $29,000. — Quincy's Hist, of Harv. 
Univ., Vol. 11. pp. 162, 273, 292. 

LOUNGE. A treat, a comfort. A word introduced into the 
vocabulary of the English Cantabs, from Eton. — Bristed. 

LOW. The term applied to the questions, subjects, papers, 
&c., pertaining to a Low Man. 

The '■'■low'' questions were chiefly confined to the first day's 
papers. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 205. 



AND CUSTOMS. 299 

The " low subjects," as got up to pass men among the Junior 
Optimes, comprise, etc. — Ihid., p. 205. 

The low papers were longer. — Ihid., p. 206. 
LOWER HOUSE. See Senate. 

LOW MAN. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the 
name given to a Junior Optime as compared with a Senior 
Optime or with a Wrangler. 

I was fortunate enough to find a place in the team of a capital 

tutor, who had but six pupils, aU going out this time, and five 

of them '■'■low men" — Brisied's Five Years in an Eng. Univ.^ Ed. 
2d, p. 204. 



M. 

M. A. An abbreviation of Magister Artium, Master of Arts. 
The second degree given by universities and colleges. Some- 
times written A. M., which is in accordance with the proper 
Latin arrangement. 

In the English universities, every B. A. of three years' 
standing may proceed to this degree on payment of certain 
fees. In America, this degree is conferred, without exami- 
nation, on Bachelors of three years' standing. At Harvard, 
this degree was formerly conferred only upon examination, 
as will be seen by the following extract. " Every schollar 
that giveth up in writing a System, or Synopsis, or summe of 
Logick, natural! and morall Philosophy, Arithmetick, Geom- 
etry and Astronomy : And is ready to defend his Theses or 
positions : Withall skilled in the originalls as above-said ; 
And of godly life and conversation ; And so approved by the 
Overseers and Master of the CoUedge, at any publique Act, 
is fit to be dignified with his 2d degree." — New England's 
First Fruits, in Mass. Hist. Ooll, Vol. I. p. 246. 

Until the year 1792, it was customary for those who ap- 
plied for the degree of M. A. to defend what were called 



300 COLLEGE WORDS 

Master's questions; after this time an oration was substi- 
tuted in place of these, which continued until 1844, when 
for the first time there were no Master's exercises. The 
degree is now given to any graduate of three or more years' 
standing, on the payment of a certain sum of money. 

The degree is also presented by special vote to individ- 
uals wholly unconnected with any college, but who are dis- 
tinguished for their literary attainments. In this case, where 
the honor is given, no fee is required. 

MAKE UP. To recite a lesson which was not recited with 
the class at the regular recitation. It is properly used as a 
transitive verb, but in conversation is very often used intran- 
sitively. The following passage explains the meaning of the 
phrase more fully. 

A student may be permitted, on petition to the Faculty, to make 
up a recitation or other exercise from which he was absent and has 
been excused, provided his appHcation to this effect be made within 
the term in which the absence occurred. — Laios of Univ. at Cam., 
Mass., 1848, p. 16. 

sleeping, — a luxury, however, which is sadly dimin- 
ished by the anticipated necessity of making up back lessons. — 
Harv. Reg., p. 202. 

MAN. An undergraduate in a university or college. 

At Cambridge and eke at Oxford, every stripling is accounted a 
Man from the moment of his putting on the gown and cap. — Gra- 
dus ad Cantah., p. 75. 

Sweet are the slumbers, indeed, of a Freshman, who, just escaped 
the trammels of " home, sweet home," and the pedagogue's tyran- 
nical birch, for the first time in his life, with the academical gown, 
assumes the toga virilis, and feels liimself a Man. — Alma Mater, 
Vol. I. p. 30. 

In College all are " men," from the hirsute Senior to the tender 
Freshman who carries off a pound of candy and paper of raisins 
from the maternal domicile weekly. — Harv. Mag., Vol. I. p. 264. 

MANCIPLE. Latin, manceps ; manu capio, to take with the 
hand. 

In the English universities, the person who purchases 



AND CUSTOMS. 301 

the provisions; the college victualler. The office is now 
obsolete. 

Our Manciple I lately met, 
Of visage wise and prudent. 

The Student, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. I. p. 115. 

MANDAMUS. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., a 
special mandate under the great seal, which enables a candi- 
date to proceed to his degree before the regular period. — 
Grad. ad Cantah. 

MANNERS. The outward observances of respect which were 
formerly required of the students by college officers seem 
very strange to us of the present time, and we cannot but 
notice the omissions which have been made in college laws 
during the present century in reference to this subject. 
Among the laws of Harvard College, passed in 1734, is one 
declaring, that "all scholars shall show due respect and 
honor in speech and behavior, as to their natural parents, so 
to magistrates, elders, the President and Fellows pf the Cor- 
poration, and to all others concerned in the instruction or 
government of the College, and to all superiors, keeping due 
silence in their presence, and not disorderly gainsaying them ; 
but showing all laudable expressions of honor and reverence 
that are in use ; such as uncovering the head, rising up in 
their presence, and the like. And particularly undergradu- 
ates shall be uncovered in the College yard when any of 
the Overseers, the President or Fellows of the Corporation, 
or any other concerned in the government or instruction of 
the College, are therein, and Bachelors of Arts shall be un- 
covered when the President is there." This law was still 
further enforced by some of the regulations contained in 
a list of "The Ancient Customs of Harvard College." 
Those which refer particularly to this point are the fol- 
lowing : — 

" No Freshman shall wear his hat in the College yard, unless it 
rains, hails, or snows, provided he be on foot, and have not both 
hands full. 

26 



302 COLLEGE WORDS 

" No Undergraduate shall -vvear Ms hat in the College yard, when 
any of the Governors of the College are there ; and no Bachelor 
shall wear his hat when the President is there. 

"No Freshman shall speak to a Senior with his hat on; or 
have it on in a Senior's chamber, or in his own, if a Senior be 
there. 

" All the Undergraduates shall treat those in the government 
of the College with respect and deference ; particularly, they shall 
not be seated without leave in their presence ; they shall be uncov- 
ered when they speak to them, or are spoken to by them." 

Such were the laws of the last century, and their observ- 
ance was enforced with the greatest strictness. After the 
Revolution, the spirit of the people had become more re- 
publican, and about the year 1796, " considering the spirit 
of the times and the extreme difficulty the executive must 
encounter in attempting to enforce the law prohibiting stu- 
dents from wearing hats in the College yard," a vote passed 
repealing it. — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. II. p. 278. 

On this subject. Professor Sidney Willard, with reference 
to the time of the presidency of Joseph Willard at Harvard 
College, during the latter part of the last century, remarks : 
" Outward tokens of respect required to be paid to the im- 
mediate government, and particularly to the President, were 
attended with formalities that seemed to be somewhat ex- 
cessive ; such, for instance, as made it an offence for a student 
to wear his hat in the College yard, or enclosure, when the 
President was within it. This, indeed, in the fulness of the 
letter, gradually died out, and was compromised by the ob- 
servance only when the student was so near, or in such a 
position, that he was likely to be recognized. Still, when the 
students assembled for morning and evening prayer, which 
was performed with great constancy by the President, they 
were careful to avoid a close proximity to the outer steps of 
the Chapel, until the President had reached and passed with- 
in the threshold. This was a point of decorum which it was 
pleasing to witness, and I never saw it violated." — Memoirs 
of Youth and Manhood, 1855, Vol. I. p. 132. 



AND CUSTOMS. 303 

" In connection with the subject of disciphne," says Pres- 
ident Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse before the Gradu- 
ates of Yale College, " we may aptly introduce that of the 
respect required by the officers of the College, and of the 
subordination which younger classes were to observe towards 
older. The germ, and perhaps the details, of this system of 
college manners, are to be referred back to the English uni- 
versities. Thus the Oxford laws require that juniors shall 
show all due and befitting reverence to seniors, that is. Un- 
dergraduates to Bachelors, they to Masters, Masters to Doc- 
tors, as well in private as in public, by giving them the 
better place when they are together, by withdrawing out of 
their way when they meet, by uncovering the head at the 
proper distance, and by reverently saluting and addressing 
them." 

After citing the law of Harvard CoUege passed in 1734, 
which is given above, he remarks as follows. " Our laws 
of 1745 contain the same identical provisions. These regu- 
lations were not a 'dead letter, nor do they seem to have 
been more irksome than many other college restraints. They 
presupposed originally that the college rank of the individual 
towards whom respect is to be shown could be discovered at 
a distance by peculiarities of dress ; the go^vn and the wig of 
the President could be seen far beyond the point where fea- 
tures and gait would cease to mark the person." — pp. 52, 53. 

As an illustration of the severity with which the laws on 
this subject were enforced, it may not be inappropriate to 
insert the annexed account from the Sketches of Yale Col- 
lege : — " The servile requisition of making obeisance to 
the officers of College within a prescribed distance was 
common, not only to Yale, but to all kindred institutions 
throughout the United States. Some young men were found 
whose high spirit would not brook the degrading law im- 
posed upon them without some opposition, which, however, 
was always ineffijctual. The following anecdote, related by 
Hon. Ezekiel Bacon, in his Recollections of Fifty Years 
Since, although the scene of its occurrence was in another 



804 COLLEGE WORDS 

college, yet is thouglit proper to be inserted here, as a fair 
sample of the insubordination caused in every institution by 
an enactment so absurd and degrading. In order to escape 
from the requirements of striking his colors and doffing his 
chapeau when within the prescribed striking distance from 
the venerable President or the dignified tutors, young Ells- 
worth, who afterwards rose to the honorable rank of Chief 
Justice of the United States, and to many other elevated 
stations in tliis country, and who was then a student there, 
cut off entirely the brim portion of his hat, leaving of it 
nothing but the crown, which he wore in the form of a 
skull-cap on his head, putting it under his arm when he 
approached their reverences. Being reproved for his per- 
versity, and told that this was not a hat within the meaning 
and intent of the law, which he was required to do his obei- 
sance with by removing it from his head, he then made bold 
to wear his skull-cap into the Chapel and recitation-room, in 
presence of the authority. Being also then again reproved 
for wearing his hat in those forbidden and sacred places, he 
replied that he had once supposed that it was in truth a 
veritable hat, but having been informed by his superiors that 
it was no hat at all, he had ventured to come into their pres- 
ence as he supposed with his head uncovered by that pro- 
scribed garment. But the dilemma was, as in his former 
position, decided against \\\m ; and no other alternative re- 
mained to him but to resume his full-brimmed beaver, and 
to comply literally with the enactments of the collegiate 
pandect." — pp. 179, 180. 

MAN WHO IS JUST GOING OUT. At the University 
of Cambridge, Eng., the popular name of a student who is 
in the last term of his collegiate course. 

MARK. The figure given to denote the quality of a recita- 
tion. In most colleges, the merit of each performance is ex- 
pressed by some number of a series, in which a certain fixed 
number indicates the highest value. 

In Harvard College the highest mark is eight. Four is 



AND CUSTOMS. 



305 



considered as the average, and a student not receiving this 
average in all the studies of a term is not allowed to remain 
as a member of college. At Yale the marks range from 
zero to four. Two is the average, and a student not receiv- 
ing this is obhged to leave college, not to return until he can 
pass an examination in all the branches which his class has 
pursued. 

In Harvard College, where the system of marks is most 
strictly followed, the merit of each individual is ascertained 
by adding together the term aggregates of each instructor, 
these " term aggregates being the sum of all the marks given 
during the term, for the current work of each month, and 
for omitted lessons made up by permission, and of the marks 
given for examination by the instructor and the examining 
committee at the close of the term." From the aggregate 
of these numbers deductions are made for delinquencies un- 
excused, and the result is the rank of the student, according 
to which his appointment (if he receives one) is given. — 
Laws of Univ. at Cam., Mass., 1848. 

That 's the way to stand in college, 

High in " marks " and want of knowledge ! 

Childe Harvard^ p. 154. 

If he does not understand his lesson, he swallows it whole, with- 
out understanding it; his object being, not the lesson, but the 
" mark" which he is frequently at the President's office to inquire 
about. — A Letter to a Young Man lolio lias just entered College, 
1849, p. 21. 

I have spoken slightingly, too, of certain parts of college ma- 
chinery, and particularly of the system of " marks." I do confess 
that I hold them in small reverence, reckoning them as rather be- 
longing to a college in embryo than to one fully grown. I suppose 
it is " dangerous " advice ; but I would be so intent upon my stud- 
ies as not to inquire or think about my " marks." — lUd. p. 36. 

Then he makes mistakes in examinations also, and " loses marks." 
— Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 388. 

MARKER. In the University of Cambridge, England, three 
or four persons called markers are employed to walk up and 

26* 



306 COLLEGE WORDS 

down chapel during a considerable part of the service, with 
lists of the names of the members in their hands ; they are 
required to run a pin through the names of those present. 

As to the method adopted by the markers, Bristed says : 
" The students, as they enter, are mar'ked with pins on long 
alphabetical lists, by two college servants, who are so ex- 
perienced and clever at their business that they never have 
to ask the name of a new-comer more than once." — Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 15. 

His name pricked off upon the marJcer^s roll, 
No twinge of conscience racks his easy soul. 

The College^ in Blackwood's Mag., May, 1849. 

MARSHAL. In the University of Oxford, an officer who is 
usually in attendance on one of the proctors. — Collegian's 
Guide. 

MARSHAL'S TREAT. An account of the manner in which 
this observance, peculiar to Williams College, is annually 
kept, is given in the annexed passage from the columns of a 
newspaper. 

" Another custom here is the Marshal's Treat. The two 
gentlemen who are elected to act as Marshals during Com- 
mencement week are expected to treat the class, and this 
year it was done in fine style. The Seniors assembled at 
about seven o'clock in their recitation-room, and, with Mar- 
shals Whiting and Taft at their head, marched down to a 
grove, rather more than half a mile from the Chapel, where 
tables had been set, and various luxuries provided for the oc- 
casion. The Philharmonia Musical Society discoursed sweet 
strains during the entertainment, and speeches, songs, and 
toasts were kept up till a late hour in the evening, when, 
after giving cheers for the three lower classes, and three 
times three for '54, they marched back to the President's. 
A song written for the occasion was there performed, to 
which he replied in a few words, speaking of his attachment 
to the class, and his regret at the parting which must soon 
take place. The class then returned to East College, and, 



AND CUSTOMS. 307 

after joining hands and singing Auld Lang Syne, separated." 
— Boston Daily Evening Traveller^ July 12, 1854. 
MASQUEEADE. It was formerly the custom at Harvard 
College for the Tutors, on leaving their office, to invite their 
friends to a masquerade ball, which was held at some time 
during the vacation, usually in the rooms which they occupied 
in the College buildings. One of the most splendid entertain- 
ments of this kind was given by Mr. Kirkland, afterwards 
President of the College, in the year 1794. The same cus- 
tom also prevailed to a certain extent among the students, and 
these balls were not wholly discontinued until the year 1811. 
After this period, members of societies would often appear in 
masquerade dresses in the streets, and would sometimes in 
this garb enter houses, with the occupants of which they were 
not acquainted, thereby causing much sport, and not unfre- 
quently much mischief. 
MASTER. The head of a college. This word is used in the 
English Universities, and was formerly in use in this country, 
in this sense. 

The Master of the College, or " Head of the House," is a D.D., 
who has been a Fellow. He is the supreme ruler within the col- 
lege walls, and moves about like an Undergraduate's deity, keeping 
at an awful distance from the students, and not letting himself be 
seen too frequently even at chapel. Besides his fat salary and 
house, he enjoys many perquisites and privileges, not the least of 
which is that of committing matiimony. — Bristed's Five Years in 
an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 16. 

Every schollar, that on proofe is found able to read the originals 
of the Old and New Testament into the Latine tongue, &c. and at 
any publiek act hath the approbation of the Overseers and Master 
of the Colledge, is fit to be dignified with his first degree. — Neio 
England's First Fruits^ in Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. I. pp. 245, 246. 

2. A title of dignity in colleges and universities ; as, 3fas- 
ter of Arts. — Webster, 

They, hkewlse, which peruse the questiones pubHshed by the 
Masters. — Mather's Magnolia, B. IV. pp. 131, 132. 

MASTER OF THE KITCHEN. In Harvai-d CoUege, a 



308 COLLEGE WORDS 

person who fonnerly made all the contracts, and performed 
all the duties necessary for the providing of commons, under 
the direction of the Steward. He was required to be " dis- 
creet and capable." — Laws of Haw. Coll., 1814, p. 42. 

MASTER'S QUESTION. A proposition advanced by a 
candidate for the degree of Master of Arts. 

In the older American colleges it seems to have been the 
established custom, at a very early period, for those who pro- 
ceeded Masters, to maintain in pubHc questions or proposi- 
tions on scientific or moral topics. Dr. Cotton Mather, in his 
Magnalia, p. 132, referring to Harvard College, speaks of 
" the questiones published by the Masters," and remarks that 
they "now and then presume to fly as high as divinity." 
These questions were in Latin, and the discussions upon 
them were carried on in the same language. The earliest 
list of Masters' questions extant was published at Harvard 
College in the year 1655. It was entitled, " Quasstiones in 

Philosophia Discutiendse in comitiis per Inceptores 

in artib[us]." In 1669 the title was changed to " Quaestiones 

pro Modulo Discutiendse per Inceptores." The last 

Masters' questions were presented at the Commencement in 
1789. The next year Masters' exercises were substituted, 
which usually consisted of an English Oration, a Poem, and 
a Valedictory Latin Oration, delivered by three out of the 
number of candidates for the second degree. A few years 
after, the Poem was omitted. The last Masters' exercises 
were performed in the year 1843. At Yale College, from 
1787 onwards, there were no Masters' valedictories, nor syl- 
logistic disputes in Latin, and in 1793 there were no Masters' 
exercises at all. 

MATHEMATICAL SLATE. At Harvard College, the best 
mathematician received in former times a large slate, which, 
on leaving college, he gave to the best mathematician in the 
next class, and thus transmitted it from class to class. The 
slate disappeared a few years since, and the custom is no 
longer observed. 



AND CUSTOMS. 309 

MATRICULA. A roll or register, from matrix. In colleges 
the register or record which contains the names of the stu- 
dents, times of entering into college, remarks on their char- 
acter, &c. 

The remarks made in the Matricula of the College respecting 
those who entered the Freshman Class together with him are, of 
one, that he " in his third year went to Philadelphia College." — 
Hist. Sketch of ColumVia College, p. 42. 

Similar brief remarks are found throughout the Matricula of 
King's College. — Ihicl., p. 42. 

We find in its Matricula the names of WiUiam Walton, &c. — 
Ihid., p. 64. 

MATRICULATE. Latin, Matricula, a roll or register, from 
matrix. To enter or admit to membership in a body or 
society, particularly in a college or university, by enrolling 
the name in a register. — Wotton. 

In July, 1778, he was examined at that university, and matiicu- 
lated. — Works of R. T. Paine, Biograpliy, p. xviii. 

In 1787, he matriculated at St. John's College, Cambridge. — 
HouseJwld Words, Yol. L p. 210. 
MATRICULATE. One enrolled in a register, and thus ad- 
mitted to membership in a society. — Arhuthnot. 

The number of Matriculates has in every Instance been greater 
than that stated In the table. — - Cat. Univ. of North Carolina, 1848 
-49. 

MATRICULATION. The act of registering a name and ad- 
mitting to membership. — Ayliffe. 

In American colleges, students who are found qualified on 
examination to enter usually join the class to which they are 
admitted, on probation, and are matriculated as members of 
the college in full standing, either at the close of their first or 
second term. The time of probation seldom exceeds one 
year ; and if at the end of this time, or of a shorter, as the 
case may be, the conduct of a student has not been such as 
is deemed satisfactory by the Faculty, his connection with 
the college ceases. As a punishment, the mcdricidation cer- 
tificate of a student Is sometimes taken from him, and during 



310 



COLLEGE WORDS 



the time in which he is unmatriculated, he is under especial 
probation, and disobedience to college laws is then punished 
with more severity than at other times. — Laws Univ. at 
Gam., Mass., 1848, p. 12. Laws Tale GolL 1837, p. 9. 

MAUDLIN. The name by which Magdalen College, Cam- 
bridge, Eng., is always known and spoken of by English- 
men. 

The " Maudlin Men " were at one time so famous for tea-drink- 
ing, that the Cam, which Hcks the very walls of the college, is said 
to have been absolutely rendered unnavigable with tea-leaves. — 
Alma Mater, Vol. II. p. 202. 
MAX. Abbreviated for maximum, greatest. At Union Col- 
lege, he who receives the highest possible number of marks, 
which is one hundred, in each study, for a term, is said to 
take Max (or maximum) ; to be a Max scholar. On the 
Merit Roll all the Maxs are clustered at the top. 

A writer remarks jocosely of this word. It is " that indi- 
cation of perfect scholarship to which none but -Freshmen 
aspire, and which is never attained except by accident." — 
Sophomore Lndependent, Union College, Nov. 1854. 

Probably not less than one third of all who enter each new class 
confidently expect to " mark max^' during their whole course, and 
to have the Valedictory at Commencement. — Il)id. 

See Merit Roll. 

MAY. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the college 
Easter term examination is famiharly spoken of as the May. 

The " May " is one of the features which distinguishes Cambridge 
from Oxford ; at the latter there are no public College examina- 
tions. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 64. 

As the " May " approached, I began to feel nervous. — Ihid., 
p. 70. 

MAY TRAINING. A correspondent from Bowdoin College, 
where the farcical custom of May Training is observed, 
writes as follows in reference to its origin : " In 1836, a 
law passed the Legislature requiring students to perform 
military duty, and they were summoned to appear at muster, 



AND CUSTOMS. 311 

equipped as the law directs, to be inspected and drilled with 
the common mihtia. Great excitement prevailed in conse- 
quence, but they finally concluded to train. At the ap- 
pointed time and place, they made their appearance armed 
cap-di-pie for grotesque deeds, some on foot, some on horse, 
with banners and music appropriate, and altogether present- 
ing as ludicrous a spectacle as could easily be conceived of. 
They paraded pretty much 'on their own hook,' threw the 
whole field into disorder by their evolutions, and were finally 
ordered off the ground by the commanding officer. They 
were never called upon again, but the day is still commem- 
orated." 

M. B. An abbreviation for Medicin(B Baccalaureus, Bachelor 
of Physic. At Cambridge, Eng., the candidate for this de- 
gree must have had his name five years on the boards of 
some college, have resided three years, and attended medical 
lectures and hospital practice during the other two ; also have 
attended the lectures of the Professors of Anatomy, Chem- 
istry, and Botany, and the Downing Professor of Medicine, 
and passed an examination to their satisfaction. At Oxford, 
Eng., the degree is given to an M. A. of one year's standing, 
who is also a regent of the same length of time. The ex- 
ercises are disputations upon two distinct days before the 
Professors of the Faculty of Medicine. The degree was 
formerly given m American colleges before that of M. D., 
but has of late years been laid aside. 

M. D. An abbreviation for MedicincE Doctor, Doctor of Physic. 
At Cambridge, Eng., the candidate for this degree must be 
a Bachelor of Physic of five years' standing, must have 
attended hospital practice for three years, and passed an 
examination satisfactory to the Medical Professors of the 
University. 

At Oxford, an M. D. must be an M. B. of three years* 
standing. The exercises are three distinct lectures, to be 
read on three different days. In American colleges the de- 
gree is usually given to those who have pursued their studies 



312 COLLEGE WORDS 

in a medical school for three years ; but the regulations differ 
in different institutions. 
MED, "^ A name sometimes given to a student in medi- 
MEDICjcine. 

who sent 

The Medic to our aid. 

The Craijon, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 23. 
" The Council are among ye, Yale ! " 
Some roaring Medic cries. 

Hid., p. 24. 
The slain, the Medics stowed away. 

Ihid., p. 24. 
Seniors, Juniors, Freshmen blue, 
And Medics sing the anthem too. 

Yale Banger, Nov. 1850. 

Take 

Sixteen interesting " Meds" 

With dirty hands and towzeled heads. 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 16. 

MEDALIST. In universities, colleges, &c., one who has 
gained a medal as the reward of merit. — JEd. Rev. Gradus 
ad Cantab. 

These Medalists then are the best scholars among the men who 
have taken a certain mathematical standing; but as out of the 
University these niceties of discrimination are apt to be dropped, 
they usually pass at home for absolutely the first and second schol- 
ars of the year, and sometimes they are so. — Bristed's Five Years 
in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 62. 

MEDICAL FACULTY. Usually abbreviated Med. Fac. 
The Medical Faculty Society was established one evening 
after commons, in the year 1818, by four students of Harvard 
College, James F. Deering, Charles Butterfield, David P. 
Hall, and Joseph Palmer, members of the class of 1820. 
Like many other societies, it originated in sport, and, as its 
after history shows, was carried on in the same spirit. The 
young men above named happening to be assembled in Hol- 
lis Hall, No. 13, a proposition was started that Deering 



AND CUSTOMS. 313 

should deliver a mock lecture, which having been done, to 
the great amusement of the rest, he in his turn proposed that 
they should at some future time initiate members by solemn 
rites, in order that others might enjoy their edifying exer- 
cises. From this small beginning sprang the renowned Med. 
Fac. Society. Deering, a "fellow of infinite jest," was 
chosen its first President; he was much esteemed for his 
talents, but died early, the victim of melancholy madness. 

The following entertaining account of the early history of 
this Society has been kindly furnished, in a letter to the 
editor, by a distinguished gentleman who was its President 
in the year 1820, and a graduate of the class of 1822. 

" With regard to the Medical Faculty," he writes, " I 
suppose that you are aware that its object was mere fun. 
That object was pursued with great diligence during the 
earlier period of its history, and probably through its whole 
existence. I do not remember that it ever had a constitution, 
or any stated meetings, except the annual one for the choice 
of officers. Frequent meetings, however, were called by the 
President to carry out the object of the institution. They 
were held always in some student's room in the afternoon. 
The room was made as dark as possible, and brilliantly 
lighted. The Faculty sat round a long table, in some sin- 
gular and antique costume, almost all in large wigs, and 
breeches with knee-buckles. This practice was adopted to 
make a strong impression on students who were invited in 
for examination. Members were always examined for ad- 
mission. The strangest questions were asked by the ven- 
erable board, and often strange answers elicited, — no matter 
how remote from the purpose, provided there was wit or 
drollery. Sometimes a singularly slow person would be in- 
vited, on purpose to puzzle and tease him with questions that 
he could make nothing of; and he would stand in helpless 
imbecility, without being able to cover his retreat with even 
the faintest suspicion of a joke. He would then be gravely 
admonished of the necessity of diligent study, reminded of 
the anxiety of his parents on his account, and his- duty to 
27 



314 COLLEGE WORDS 

them, and at length a month or two would be allowed him 
to prepare hhnself for another examination, or he would be 
set aside altogether. But "if he appeared again for another 
trial, he was sure to fare no better. He would be set aside 
at last. I remember an instance in which a member w^as 
expelled for a reason purely fictitious, — droll enough to be 
worth telling, if I could remember it, — and the secretary 
directed ' to write to his father, and break the matter gently 
to him, that it might not bring down the gray hairs of the 
old man with sorrow to the grave.' 

" I have a pleasant recollection of the mock gravity, the 
broad humor, and often exquisite wit of those meetings, but 
it is impossible to give you any adequate idea of them. 
Burlesque lectures on all conceivable and inconceivable sub- 
jects were frequently read or improvised by members ad 
libitum. I remember something of a remarkable one from 
Dr. Alden, upon part of a skeleton of a superannuated horse, 
which he made to do duty for the remains of a great German 
Professor with an unspeakable name. 

" Degrees were conferred upon all the members, — M. D. 
or D. M.* according to their rank, which is explained in the 
Catalogue. Honorary degrees were liberally conferred upon 
conspicuous persons at home and abroad. It is said that one 
gentleman, at the South, I believe, considered himself insulted 
by the honor, and complained of it to the College govern- 
ment, who forthwith broke up the Society. But this was 
long after my time, and I cannot answer for the truth of the 
tradition. Diplomas were given to the M. D.'s and D. M.'s 
in ludicrous Latin, with a great seal appended by a green 
ribbon. I have one, somewhere. My name is rendered Filius 
Stetir 

A graduate of the class of 1828 writes : " I well remem- 
ber that my invitation to attend the meeting of the Med. 
Fac. Soc. was written in barbarous Latin, commencing 
^Domine Crux,' and I think I passed so good an examina- 

* Doctor of Medicine, or Student of Medicine. 



AND CUSTOMS. 



315 



tion that I was made Professor longis extremitatihus, or 
Professor with long shanks. It was a society for purposes 
of mere fun and burlesque, meeting secretly, and always 
foiling the government in their attempts to break it up." 

The members of the Society were accustomed to array 
themselves in masquerade dresses, and in the evening would 
enter the houses of the inhabitants of Cambridge, unbidden, 
though not always unwelcome guests. This practice, how- 
ever, and that of conferring degrees on public characters, 
brought the Society, as is above stated, into great disrepute 
with the College Faculty, by whom it was abolished in the 
year 1834. 

The Catalogue of the Society was a burlesque on the Tri- 
ennial of the College. The first was printed in the year 
1821, the others followed in the years 1824, 1827, 1830, 
and 1833. The title on the cover of the Catalogue of 1833, 
the last issued, similar to the titles borne by the others, was, 
" Catalogus Senatus Facultatis, et eorum qui munera et 
officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus laurea donati sunt 
in Facultate Medicinse in Universitate Harvardiana consti- 
tuta, Cantabrigiae in Republica Massachusettensi. Canta- 
brigias: Sumptibus Societatis. MDCCCXXXIII. Sanguinis 
circulationis post patefactionem Anno CCY." 

The Prefaces to the Catalogues were written in Latin, the 
character of which might well be denominated piggish. In 
the following translations by an esteemed friend, the beauty 
and force of the originals are well preserved. 

Preface to the Catalogue of 1824. 

" To many, the first edition of the Medical Faculty Catalogue 
was a wonderful and extraordinary thing. Those who boasted that 
they could comprehend it, found themselves at length terribly and 
widely in error. Those who did not deny their inability to get the 
idea of it, were astonished and struck with amazement. To certain 
individuals, it seemed to possess somewhat of wit and humor, and 
these laughed immoderately ; to others, the thing seemed so ab- 
surd and foolish, that they preserved a grave and serious coun- 
tenance. 



316 COLLEGE WORDS 

" Now, a new edition is necessary, in whicli it is proposed to state 
briefly in order the rise and progress of the Medical Faculty. It is 
an undoubted matter of history, that the Medical Faculty is the 
most ancient of all societies in the whole world. In fact, its archives 
contain documents and annals of the Society, Avritten on birch-bark, 
which are so ancient that they cannot be read at all ; and, more- 
over, other writings belong to the Society, legible it is true, but, by 
ill-luck, in the words of an unknown and long-buried language, and 
therefore unintelligible. Nearly aU the documents of the Society 
have been reduced to ashes at some time amid the rolHng years 
since the creation of man. On this account the Medical Faculty 
cannot pride itself on an uninterrupted series of records. But many 
oral traditions in regard to it have reached us from our ancestors, 
from which it may be inferred that this society formerly flourished 
under the name of the ' Society of Wits ' (Societas Jocosorum) ; 
and you might often gain an idea of it from many shrewd remarks 
that have found their way to various parts of the world. 

" The Society, after various changes, has at length been brought 
to its present form, and its present name has been given it. It is, 
by the way, worthy of note, that this name is of peculiar significa- 
tion, the word ' medical ' having the same force as ' sanative ' (sa- 
nans), as far as relates to the mind, and not to the body, as in the 
vulgar signification. To be brief, the meaning of ' medical ' is ' di- 
verting' (divertens), that is,, turning the mind from misery, evil, 
and grief. Under this interpretation, the Medical Faculty signifies 
neither more nor less than the ' Faculty of Recreation.' The thing 
proposed by the Society is, to divert its immediate and honorary 
members from unbecoming and foolish thoughts, and is twofold, 
namely, relating both to manners and to letters. Professors in the 
departments appropriated to letters read lectures ; and the alumni, 
as the case requires, are sometimes publicly examined and ques- 
tioned. The Library at present contains a single book, but this one 
is called for more and more every day. A collection of medical 
apparatus belongs to the Society, beyond doubt the most grand and 
extensive in the whole world, intended to sharpen the /acwZ/ies of 
all the members. 

" Honorary degrees have been conferred on illustrious and re- 
markable men of all countries. 

" A certain part of the members go into all academies and lit- 
erary ' gymnasia,' to act as nuclei, around which branches of this 
Society may be enabled to form." 



AND CUSTOMS. 317 

Preface to the Catalogue of 1830. 

" As the members of the Medical Faculty have increased, as many- 
members have been distinguished by honorary degrees, and as the 
former Catalogues have all been sold, the Senate orders a new 
Catalogue to be printed. 

" It seemed good to the editors of the former Catalogue briefly 
to state the nature and to defend the antiquity of this Faculty. 
Nevertheless, some have refused their assent to the statements, and 
demand some reasons for what is asserted. We therefore, once far 
all, declare that, of all societies, this is the most ancient, the most 
extensive, the most learned, and the most divine. We establish its 
antiquity by two arguments: firstly, because everywhere in the 
world there are found many monuments of our ancestors ; secondly, 
because all other societies derive their origin from this. It appears 
from our annals, that different curators have laid their bones be- 
neath the Pyramids, Naples, Eome, and Paris. These, as described 
by a faithful secretary, are found at this day. 

" The obelisks of Egypt contain in hieroglyphic characters many 
secrets of our Faculty. The Chinese Wall, and the Colossus at 
Rhodes, were erected by our ancestors in sport. We could cite 
many other examples, were it necessary. 

" All societies to whom belong either wonderful art, or nothing 
except secrecy, have been founded on our pattern. It appears that 
the Society of Free-Masons was founded by eleven disciples of the 
Med. Fac. expelled A. D. 1425. But these ignorant fellows were 
never able to raise their brotherhood to our standard of perfection : 
in this respect alone they agree with us, in admitting only the mas- 
culine gender (' masc. gen.').* 

'^ Therefore we have always been Antimason. No one who has 
ever gained admittance to our assembly has the slightest doubt that 
we have extended our power to the farthest regions of the earth, 
for we have embassies from every part of the world, and Satan 
himself has learned many particulars from our Senate in regard to 
the administration of affairs and the means of torture. 

" We pride ourselves in being the most learned society on earth, 
for men versed in all literature and erudition, when hurried into 
our presence for examination, quail and stand in silent amazement. 
' Placid Death ' alone is coeval with this Society, and resembles it, 

* Referring to the masks and disguises worn by the members at their 
meetings. 

27* 



318 COLLEGE WORDS 

for ia its own Catalogue it equalizes rich and poor, great and small, 
•white and black, old and young. 

" Since these things are so, and you, kind reader, have been in- 
structed on these points, I will not longer detain you from the book 
and the picture.* Farewell." 

Preface to the Catalogue of 1833. 

" It was much less than three years since the third edition of this 
Catalogue saw the light, when the most learned Med. Fac. began 
to be reminded that the time had arrived for preparing to polish up 
and publish a new one. Accordingly, special curators were selected 
to bring this work to perfection. These curators would not neglect 
the opportunity of saying a few words on matters of great moment. 

" We have carefully revised the whole text, and, as far as we 
could, we have taken pains to remove typographical errors. The 
duty is not light. But the number of medical men in the world 
has increased, and it is becoming that the whole world should'know 
the true authors of its greatest blessing. Therefore we have in- 
serted their names and titles in their proper places. 

" Among other changes, we would not forget the creation of a 
new office. Many healing remedies, foreign, rare, and wonderful, 
have been brought for the use of the Faculty from Egypt and Ara- 
bia Felix. It was proper that some worthy, capable man, of quick 
discernment, should have charge of these most precious remedies. 
Accordingly, the Faculty has chosen a curator to be called the 
' Apothecarius.' Many quacks and cheats have desired to hold the 
new office ; but the present occupant has thrown all others into the 
shade. The names, surnames, and titles of this excellent man will 
be found in the following pages. f 

" We have done well, not only towards others, but also towards 
ourselves. Our library contains quite a number of books ; among 
others, ten thousand obtained through the munificence and liberality 
of great societies in the almost unknown regions of Kamtschatka 
and the North Pole, and especially also through the munificence of 
the Emperor of all the Russias. It has become so immense, that, 

* A picture representing an examination and initiation into the So- 
ciety, fronting the title-page of the Catalogue. 

t Leader Dam, Armig., M. D. et ex off L. K. et LL. D. et J. U. D. 
et P. D. et M. U. D , etc., etc., et ASS. 

He was an empiric, who had offices at Boston and Philadelphia, where 
he sold quack medicines of various descriptions. 



AND CUSTOMS. 319 

at the request of tlie Librarian, the Faculty have prohibited any- 
further donations. 

" In the next session of the General Court of Massachusetts, the 
Senate of the Faculty (assisted by the President of Harvard Uni- 
versity) will petition for forty thousand sesterces, for the purpose 
of erecting a large building to contain the immense accumulation 
of books. From the well-known liberality of the Legislature, no 
doubts are felt of obtaining it. 

" To say more would make a long story. And this, kind reader, 
is what we have to communicate to you at the outset. The fruit 
will show with how much fidehty we have performed the task im- 
posed upon us by the most illustrious men. Farewell." 

As a specimen of the character of the honorary degrees 
conferred by the Society, the following are taken from the 
list given in the Catalogues. They embrace, as will be seen, 
the names of distinguished personages only, from the King 
and President to Day and Martin, Sam Patch, and the world- 
renowned Sea-Serpent. 

" Henricus Christophe, Rex Haytiae quondam, M. D. Med. 
Fac. honorarius." * 

" Gulielmus Cobbett, qui ad Angliam ossa Thomse Paine 
ferebat, M. D. Med. Fac. honorarius." f 

" Johannes-Cleaves Symmes, qui in terras ilia penetravissit, 
M. D. Med. Fac. honorarius." t 

" Alexander L Russ. Imp. Illust. et Sanct. Feed, et Mass. 
Pac. Soc. Socius, qui per Legat. American, claro Med. Fac, 
^ curiositatem raram et archaicam^ regie transmisit, 1825, 
M. D. Med. Fac. honorarius." § 

" Andreas Jackson, Major-General in bello ultimo Ameri- 

* Christophe, the black Prince of Hayti. 

t It is said he carried the bones of Tom Paine, the infidel, to England, 
to make money by exhibiting them, but some difficulty arising about the 
duty on them, he threw them overboard. 

I He promulgated a theory that the earth was hollow, and that there 
was an entrance to it at the North Pole. 

§ Alexander the First of Russia was elected a member, and, suppos- 
ing the society to be an honorable one, forwarded to it a valuable pres- 
ent. 



320 COLLEGE WORDS 

cano, et Nov. Orleans Heros fortissimus ; et ergo nunc Prae- 
sidis Rerumpub. Foed. muneris candidatus et ' Old Hickory/ 
M. D. et M. U. D. 1827, Med. Fac. honorarius, et 1829 Prae- 
ses Rerumpub. Foed., et LL. D. 1833." 

" Gulielmus Emmons, prasnominatus Pickleius, qui orator 
eloquentissimus nostras astatis; poma, nuces, panem-zingibe- 
ris, suas orationes, ' Egg-popque ' vendit, D. M. Med. Fac. 
honorarius." * 

" Day et Martin, Angli, qui per quinquaginta annos toto 
Cbristiano Orbi et praecipue Univ. Harv. optimum Real 
Japan Atramentum ab ' XCVII. Alta Holbornia ' submini- 
strarunt, M. D. et M. U. D. Med. Fac. honorarius." 

" Samuel Patch, socius multum deploratus, qui multa ex- 
perimenta de gravitate et ' faciles descensus ' suo corpore 
fecit ; qui gradum, M. D. per saltum consecutus est. Med. 
Fac. honorarius." 

" Cheng et Heng, Siamesi juvenes, invicem a mans et 
intime attacti, Med. Fac. que honorarii." 

" Gulielmus Grimke, et quadraginta sodales qui * omnes 
in uno ' Conic Sections sine Tabulis aspernati sunt, et contra 
Facultatem, Col. Yal. rebellaverunt, posteaque expulsi et 
* obumbrati ' sunt et Med. Fac. honorarii." 

" Mahtin Van Buren, Armig., Civitatis Scriba Reipub. 
Foed. apud Aul. Brit. Legat. Extraord. sibi constitutus. Reip. 
Nov. Ebor. Gub. * Don Whiskerandos ' ; ' Little Dutchman ' ; 
atque ' Great Rejected.' Nunc (1832), Rerumpub. Feed. 
Vice-Praeses et ' Kitchen Cabinet ' Moderator, M. D. et Med. 
Fac. honorarius." 

"Magnus Serpens Maris, suppositus, aut porpoises aut 
horse-mackerel, grex ; ' very like a whale ' (Shak.) ; M. D. 
et pecuhariter M. U. D. Med. Fac. honorarius." 

" Timotheus Tibbets et Gulielmus J. SnelHng ' par nobile 



* He made speeches on the Fourth of July at five or six o'clock iu 
the morning, and had them printed and ready for sale, as soon as de- 
livered, from his cart on Boston Common, from which he sold various 
articles. 



AND CUSTOMS. 321 

sed hostile fratrum'; 'victor et victus/ unus buster et rake, 
alter lupinarum cockpitsque purgator, et nuper Edit. Nov. 
Ang. Galax. Med. Fac. lionorarii." * 

" Capt. Basil Hall, Tabitlia Trollope, atque Isaacus Fid- 
dler Reverendus ; semi-pay centurio, famelica transfuga, et 
semicoctus grammaticaster, qui scriptitant solum ut prandere 
possint. Tres in uno Mend. Munch. Prof. M. D., M. U. D. 
et Med. Fac. Honorarizfm." 

A college poet thus laments the fall of this respected so- 
ciety : — 

" Gone, too, for aye, that merry masquerade. 

Which danced so gayly in the evening shade, 

And Learning weeps, and Science hangs her head, 

To mourn — vain toil ! — their cherished oJBfspring dead. 

What though she sped her honors wide and far. 

Hailing as son Muscovia's haughty Czar, 

Who in his palace humbly knelt to greet. 

And laid his costly presents at her feet ? f 

Relentless fate her sadden fall decreed. 

Dooming each votary's tender heart to bleed. 

And yet, as if in mercy to atone. 

That fate hushed sighs, and silenced many a groan" 

Winsloid's Class Poem, 1835. 

MERIT ROLL. At Union College, " the Merit Rolls of the 
several classes," says a correspondent, " are sheets of paper 
put up in the College post-office, at the opening of each term, 
containing a list of all students present in the different classes 
during the previous term, with a statement of the conduct, 
attendance, and scholarship of each member of the class. 
The names are numbered according to the standing of the 
student, all the best scholars being clustered at the head, and 
the poorer following in a melancholy train. To be at the 
head, or ' to head the roll,' is an object of ambition, while 
* to foot the roll ' is anything but desirable." 

* Tibbets, a gambler, was attacked by Snelling through the columns 
of the New England Galaxy. 

t Referring to the degree given to the Russian Alexander, and the 
present received in return. 



322 COLLEGE WORDS 

MIDDLE BACHELOR. One who is in his second year 
after taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

A Senior Sophister has authority to take a Freshman from a 
Sophomore, a Middle Bachelor from a Junior Sophister. — Quincy's 
Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. II. p. 540. 

MIGRATE. In the English universities, to remove from one 
college to another. 

One of the unsuccessful candidates migrated. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 100. 

MIGRATION. In the English universities, a removal from 
one college to another. 

" A migration,'' remarks Bristed, " is generally tantamount 
to a confession of inferiority, and an acknowledgment that 
the migrator is not likely to become a Fellow in his own Col- 
lege, and therefore takes refuge in another, where a more 
moderate Degree wiU insure him a Fellowship. A great 
deal of this migration goes on from John's to the Small Col- 
leges." — Five Tears in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 100. 

MIGRATOR. In the English universities, one who removes 
from one college to another. 

MILD. A student epithet of depreciation, answering nearly 
to the phrases, " no great shakes," and " small potatoes." — 
Bristed. 

Some of us were very heavy men to all appearance, and our first 
attempts mild enough. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 169. 

MINGO. Latin. At Harvard College, this word was formerly 
used to designate a chamber-pot. 

To him that occupies my study, 
I give for use of making toddy, 
A bottle fuU of wliite-face Stingo, 
Another, handy, called a mingo. 
Will of Cliarles Prentiss, in Rural Repository, 1795. 

Many years ago, some of the students of Harvard College, 
wishing to make a present to their Tutor, Mr. Flynt, called 
on him, informed him of their intention, and requested him 



AND CUSTOMS. 323 

to select a gift which would be acceptable to him. He re- 
pKed that he was a single man, that he already had a well- 
filled library, and in reality wanted nothing. The students, 
not all satisfied with this answer, determined to present him 
with a silver chamber-pot. One was accordingly made, of 
the appropriate dimensions, and inscribed with these words : 

" Mingere cum bombis 
Res est saluberrima lumbis." 

On the morning of Commencement Day, this was borne 
in procession, in a morocco case, and presented to the Tutor. 
Tradition does not say with what feelings he received it, but 
it remained for many years at a room in Quincy, where he 
was accustomed to spend his Saturdays and Sundays, and 
finally disappeared, about the beginning of the Revolutionary 
"War. It is supposed to have been carried to England. 

MINOR. A privy. From the Latin minor, smaller ; the word 
house being understood. Other derivations are given, but 
this seems to be the most classical. This word is pecuhar to 
Harvard College. 

MISS. An omission of a recitation, or any college exercise. 
An instructor is said to give a miss, when he omits a 
recitation. 

A quaint Professor of Harvard College, being once asked 
by his class to omit the recitation for that day, is said to have 
replied in the words of Scripture : " Ye ask and receive not, 
for ye ask a-miss." 

In the "Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D.," Professor Fel- 
ton has referred to this story, and has appended to it the con- 
tradiction of the worthy Doctor. " Amusing anecdotes, some 
true and many apocryphal, were handed down in College 
from class to class, and, so far from being yet forgotten, they 
are rather on the increase. One of these mythical stories 
was, that on a certain occasion one of the classes applied to 
the Doctor for what used to be called, in College jargon, a 
miss, i. e. an omission of recitation. The Doctor replied, as 
the legend run, ' Ye ask, and ye receive not, because ye ask 



324 COLLEGE WORDS 

a-missJ Many years later, this was told to him. * It is not 
true,' he exclaimed, energetically. ' In the first place, I have 
not wit enough ; in the next place, I have too much wit, for I 
mortally hate a pun. Besides, / never allude irreverently/ to 
the Scriptures." — p. Ixxvii. 

Or are there some who scrape and hiss 

Because you never give a miss. — Reielliad, p. 62. 

is good to all his subjects, 

Misses gives he every hour. — MS. Poem. 

MISS. To be absent from a recitation or any college exercise. 
Said of a student. See Cut. 

Who will recitations miss ! — Eehelliad, p. 53. 

At every corner let us hiss 'em ; 

And as for recitations, — miss 'em. — Ibid., p. 58. 

Who never misses declamation, 

Nor cuts a stupid recitation. 

Harvardiana, Vol. IB. p. 283-. 
Missing chambers will be visited with consequences more to be 
dreaded than the penalties of missing lecture. — Collegian's Guide, 
p. 304. 

MITTEN. At the Collegiate Institute of Indiana, a student 
who is expelled is said to get the mitten. 

MOCK-PART. At Harvard College, it is customary, when 
the parts for the first exhibition in the Junior year have been 
read, as described under Paet, for the part-reader to an- 
nounce what are called the moch-parts. These mock-parts, 
which are burlesques on the regular appointments, are also 
satires on the habits, character, or manners of those to whom 
they are assigned. They are never given to any but mem- 
bers of the Junior Class. It was formerly customary for the 
Sophomore Class to read them in the last term of that year, 
when the parts were given out for the Sophomore exhibition ; 
but as there is now no exhibition for that class, they are read 
only in the Junior year. The following may do as specimens 
of the subjects usually assigned : — The difference between 
alluvial and original soils ; a discussion between two persons 



AND CUSTOMS. 325 

not noted for personal cleanliness. The last term of a de- 
creasing series ; a subject for an insignificant but conceited 
fellow. An essay on the Humbug, by a dabbler 'in natural 
history. A conference on the three dimensions, length, 
breadth, and thickness, between three persons, one very tall, 
another very broad, and the third very fat. 

MODERATE. In colleges and universities, to superintend 
the exercises and disputations in philosophy, and the Com- 
mencements when degrees are conferred. 

They had their weekly declamations on Friday, in the CoUedge 
Hall, besides publick disputations, which either the Prassident or 
the Fellows moderated. — Mather's Magnolia, B. IV. p. 127. 

Mr. Mather moderated at the Masters' disputations. — Hutchin- 
son's Hist, of Mass., Vol. I. p. 175, note. 

Mr. Andrew moderated at the Commencements. — Clap's Hist. 
of Yale Coll., -p. 15. 

President Holyoke was of a noble, commanding presence. He 
was perfectly acquainted with academic matters, and moderated at 
Commencements with great dignity. — Holmes's Life of Ezra Stiles, 
p. 26. 

Mr. Woodbridge moderated at Commencement, 1723. — Wool- 
sey's Hist. Disc, p. 103. 

MODERATOR. In the English universities, one who super- 
intends the exercises and disputations in philosophy, and the 
examination for the degree of B. A. — Gam. Gal. 

The disputations at which the Moderators presided in the 
English universities "are now reduced," says Brande, "to 
little more than matters of form." 

The word was formerly in use in American colleges. 

Five scholars performed public exercises ; the Rev. Mr. Wood- 
bridge acted as Moderator. — Clap's Hist, of Yale Coll., p. 27. 

He [the President] was occasionally present at the weekly decla- 
mations and public disputations, and then acted as Moderator ; an 
office which, in his absence, was filled by one of the Tutors. — 
Quincy's Hist, of Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 440. 

MONITOR. In schools or universities, a pupil selected to look 
to the scholars in the absence of the instructor, or to notice 
28 



326 COLLEGE WORDS 

the absence or faults of the scholars, or to instruct a division 
or class. — Webster. 

In American colleges, the monitors are usually appointed 
by the President, their duty being to keep bills of absence 
from, and tardiness at, devotional and other exercises. See 
Laws of Harv. and Yale Golls., &c. 

Let monitors scratch as they please, 
We '11 lie in bod and taJce our ease. 

Harvardiana^ Vol. III. p. 123. 

MOONLIGHT. At Williams College, the prize rhetorical ex- 
ercise is called by this name ; the reason is not given. The 
students speak of " making a rush for moonlight,^' i. e. of 
attempting to gain the prize for elocution. 

In the evening comes Moonliglit Exhibition, when three men 
from each of the three lower classes exhibit their oratorical powers, 
and are followed by an oration before the Adelphic Union, by 
Kalph Waldo Emerson. — Boston Daily Evening Traveller^ July 
12, 1854. 

MOONLIGHT EANGERS. At Jefferson College, in Penn- 
sylvannia, a title apphed to a band composed of the most 
noisy and turbulent students, commanded by a captain and 
sub-officer, who, in the most fantastic disguises, or in any 
dress to which the moonlight will give most effect, appear on 
certain nights designated, prepared to obey any command in 
the way of engaging in any sport of a pleasant nature. They 
are all required to have instruments which will make the 
loudest noise and create the greatest excitement. 

MOSS-COVERED HEAD. In the German universities, 
students during the sixth and last term, or semester, are 
called Moss-covered Heads, or, in an abbreviated form, Mossy 
Heads. 

MOUNTAIN DAY. The manner in which this day is ob- 
served at Williams College is described in the accompanying 
extra.cts. 

" Greylock is to the student in his rambles, what Mecca 
is to the Mahometan ; and a pilgrimage to the summit is con- 
sidered necessary, at least once during the collegiate course. 



AND CUSTOMS. 327 

There is an ancient and time-honored custom, which has ex- 
isted from the establishment of the College, of granting to the 
students, once a year, a certain day of relaxation and amuse- 
ment, known by the name of ' Mountain Day.' It usually 
occurs about the middle of June, when the weather is most 
favorable for excursions to the mountains and other places of 
interest in the vicinity. It is customary, on this and other 
occasions during the summer, for parties to pass the night 
upon the summit, both for the novelty of the thing, and also 
to enjoy the unrivalled prospect at sunrise next morning." — 
Sketches of Will Coll, 1847, pp. 85-89. 

" It so happens that Greylock, in our immediate vicinity, is 
the highest mountain in the Commonwealth, and gives a view 
from its summit ^ that for vastness and sublimity is equalled 
by nothing in New England except the White Hills.' And it 
is an ancient observance to go up from this valley once in the 
year to ' see the world.' We were not of the number who 
availed themselves of this lex non scripta, forasmuch as more 
than one visit in time past hath somewhat worn off the nov- 
elty of the thing. But a goodly number ^ went aloft,' some in 
wagons, some on horseback, and some, of a sturdier make, on 
foot. Some, not content with a mountain day, carried their 
knapsacks and blankets to encamp till morning on the sum- 
mit and see the sun rise. Not in the open air, however, for 
a magnificent timber observatory has been set up, — a rough- 
hewn, sober, substantial 'hght-house in the skies,' under 
whose roof is a limited portion of infinite space shielded 
from the winds." — Williams Monthly Miscellany, 1845, Vol. 
I. p. 555. 

" '^Mountain day,' the date to which most of the imaginary 
Toivs have been assigned, comes at the beginning of the sum- 
mer term, and the various classes then ascend Greylock, the 
highest peak in the State, from which may be had a very 
fine view. Frequently they pass the night there, and beds 
are made of leaves in the old tower, bonfires are built, and 
they get through it quite comfortable." — Boston Daily Even- 
ing Traveller, July 12, 1854. 



328 COLLEGE WORDS 

MOUTH. To recite in an affected manner, as if one knew 
the lesson, when in reality he does not. 

Never shall you allow yourself to think of going into the recita- 
tion-room, and there trust to " skinning," as it is called in some 
colleges, or " phrasing," as in others, or " mouthing it," as in oth- 
ers. — Todd's Student's Manual, p. 115. 

MRS. GOFF. Formerly a cant phrase for any woman. 
But cease the touching chords to sweep, 
For Mrs. Goff has deigned to weep. 

Rehelliad, p. 21. 

MUFF. A foolish fellow. 

Many affected to sneer at him, as a " muff,'* who would have 
been exceedingly flattered by his personal acquaintance. — Black- 
wood's Mag., Eng. ed., Vol. LX. p. 147. 

MULE. In Germany, a student during the vacation between 
the time of his quitting the gymnasium and entering the uni- 
versity, is known as a mule. 

MUS. B. An abbreviation for Musicce Baccalaurens, Bache- 
lor of Music. In the English universities, a Bachelor of 
Music must enter his name at some college, and compose and 
perform a solemn piece of music,, as an exercise before the 
University. 

MUS. D. An abbreviation for Musicce Doctor, Doctor of Mu- 
sic. A Mus. D. is generally a Mus. B., and his exercise is 
the same. 

MUSES. A college or university is often designated the Tem- 
ple, Retreat, Seat, &c. of the Muses. 

Having passed this outer court of the Temple of the Muses, you 
are ushered into the Sanctum Sanctorum itself. — Alma Mater, 
Vol. I. p. 87. 

Inviting such distinguished visitors as happen then to 

be on a tour to this attractive retreat of the Muses. — Ihid., Vol. I. 
p. 156. 

My instructor ventured to offer me as a candidate for admission 
into that renowned seat of the Muses, Harvard College. — New 
England Mag., Vol. HI. p. 237. 



AND CUSTOMS. 329 

A student at a college or university is sometimes called a 
Son of the Muses. 

It might perhaps suit some inveterate idlers, smokers, and drink- 
ers, but no true son of the Muses. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XV. p. 3. 

While it was his earnest desire that the beloved so7is of the Muses 
might leave the institutions enriched with the erudition, &c. — 
Judge Kenfs Address hefore ^. B. K. of Yale Coll., p. 39, 1831. 



N. 

NAVY CLUB. The Navy Club, or the Navy, as it was for- 
merly called, originated among the students of Harvard Col- 
lege about the year 1796, but did not reach its full perfection 
until several years after. What the primary design of the 
association was is not known, nor can the causes be ascer- 
tained which led to its formation. At a later period its ob- 
ject seems to have been to imitate, as far as possible, the 
customs and discipline peculiar to the flag-ship of a navy, 
and to afford some consolation to those who received no ap- 
pointments at Commencement, as such were always chosen 
its officers. The Lord High Admiral was appointed by the 
admiral of the preceding class, but his election was not known 
to any of the members of his class until witliin six weeks 
of Commencement, when the parts for that occasion were 
assigned. It was generally understood that this officer was 
to be one of the poorest in point of scholarship, yet the jol- 
liest of all the " Jolly Blades." At the time designated, he 
broke the seal of a package which had been given him by 
his predecessor in office, the contents of which were known 
only to himself ; but these were supposed to be the insignia 
of his office, and the instructions pertaining to the admiralty. 
He then appointed his assistant officers, a vice-admkal, rear- 
admiral, captain, sailing-master, boatswain, &c. To the boat- 
28* 



330 COLLEGE WORDS 

swain a whistle was given, transmitted, like the admiral's 
package, from class to class. 

The Flag-ship for the year 1815 was a large marquee, 
called " The Good Ship Harvard," which was moored in the 
w^oods, near the place where the residence of the Hon. John 
G. Palfrey now stands. The floor was arranged like the deck 
of a man-of-war, being divided into the main and quarter 
decks. The latter was occupied by the admiral, and no one 
was allowed to be there with him without special order or 
permission. In his sway he was very despotic, and on board 
ship might often have been seen reclining on his couch, at- 
tended by two of his subordinates (classmates), who made 
his slumbers pleasant by guarding his sacred person from 
the visits of any stray mosquito, and kept him cool by 
the vibrations of a fan. The marquee stood for several 
weeks, during which time meetings were frequently held in 
it. At the command of the admiral, the boatswain would 
sound his whistle in front of Holworthy Hall, the building 
where the Seniors then, as now, resided, and the student 
sailors, issuing forth, would form in procession, and march to 
the place of meeting, there to await further orders. If the 
members of the Navy remained on board ship over night, 
those who had received appointments at Commencement, 
then called the " Marines," were obliged to keep guard while 
the members slept or caroused. 

The operations of the Navy were usually closed with an 
excursion down the harbor. A vessel well stocked with 
certain kinds of provisions afforded, with some assistance 
from the stores of old Ocean, the requisites for a grand clam- 
bake or a mammoth chowder. The spot usually selected for 
this entertainment was the shores of Cape Cod. On the 
third day the party usually returned from their voyage, and 
their entry uito Cambridge was generally accompanied with 
no little noise and disorder. The Admiral then appointed 
privately his successor, and the Navy was disbanded for the 
year. 

The exercises of the association varied from year to year. 



AND CUSTOMS. 331 

Many of the old customs gradually went out of fashion, until 
finally but little of the original Navy remained. The officers 
were, as usual, appointed yearly, but the power of appointing 
them was transferred to the class, and a pubhc parade was 
substituted for the forms and ceremonies once peculiar to 
the society. The excursion down the harbor was omitted 
for the first time the present year,* and the last procession 
made its appearance in the year 1846. 

At present the Navy Club is organized after the parts for 
the last Senior Exhibition have been assigned. It is com- 
posed of three classes of persons ; namely, the true Navy, 
which consists of those who have never had parts ; the 
Marines, those who have had a major or second part in the 
Senior year, but no minor or first part in the Junior ; and 
the Horse-Marines, those who have had a minor or first 
part in the Junior year, but have subsequently fallen off, so 
as not to get a major or second part in the Senior. Of the 
Navy officers, the Lord High Admiral is usually he who has 
been sent from College the greatest number of times ; the 
Vice- Admiral is the poorest scholar in the class ; the Eear- 
Admiral the laziest fellow in the class ; the Commodore, 
one addicted to boating ; the Captain, a jolly blade ; the 
Lieutenant and Midshipman, fellows of the same description ; 
the Chaplain, the most profane ; the Surgeon, a dabbler in 
surgery, or in medicine, or anything else ; the Ensign, the 
tallest member of the class ; the Boatswain, one most inclined 
to obscenity ; the Drum Major, the most aristocratic, and his 
assistants, fellows of the same character. These constitute 
the Band. Such are the general rules of choice, but they are 
not always followed. The remainder of the class who have 
had no parts and are not officers of the Navy Club are mem- 
bers, under the name of Privates. On the morning when the 
parts for Commencement are assigned, the members who re- 
ceive appointments resign the stations which they have held 
in the Navy Club. This resignation takes place immediately 

* 1851. 



332 COLLEGE WORDS 

after the parts have been read to the class. The door-way 
of the middle entry of Holworthy Hall is the place usually 
chosen for this affecting scene. The performance is carried 
on in the mock-oratorical style, a person concealed under a 
white sheet being placed behind the speaker to make the ges- 
tures for him. The names of those members who, having 
received Commencement appointments, have refused to re- 
sign their trusts in the Navy Club, are then read by the Lord 
High Admiral, and by his authority they are expelled from 
the society. This closes the exercises of the Club. 

The following entertaining account of the last procession, 
in 1846, has been furnished by a graduate of that year : — 

" The class had nearly all assembled, and the procession, 
which extended through the rooms of the Natural History 
Society, began to move. The principal officers, as also the 
whole band, were dressed in full uniform. The Rear-Ad- 
miral brought up the rear, as was fitting. He was borne in 
a sort of triumphal car, composed of something like a couch, 
elevated upon wheels, and drawn by a white horse. On this 
his excellency, dressed in uniform, and enveloped in his cloak, 
reclined at full length. One of the Marines played the part 
of driver. Behind the car walked a colored man, with a 
most fantastic head-dress, whose duty it was to carry his 
Honor the Rear-Admiral's pipe. Immediately before the 
car walked the other two Marines, with guns on their shoul- 
ders. The ' Digs ' * came immediately before the Marines, 
preceded by the tallest of their number, carrying a white satin 
banner, bearing on it, in gold letters, the word ' Harvard,' 
with a spade of gold paper fastened beneath. The Digs were 
all dressed in black, with Oxford caps on their heads, and 
small iron spades over their shoulders. They walked two 
and two, except in one instance, namely, that of the first 
three scholars, who walked together, the last of their breth- 
ren, immediately preceding the Marines. The second and 

* See Dig. In this case, those who had parts at two Exhibitions are 
thus designated. 



AND CUSTOMS. 333 

third scholars did not carry spades, but pointed shovels, much 
larger and heavier ; while the first scholar, who walked be- 
tween the other two, carried an enormously great square 
shovel, — such as is often seen hung out at hardware-stores 
for a sign, — with 'Spades and Shovels,' or some such 
thing, painted on one side, and 'All Sizes' on the other. 
This shovel was about two feet square. The idea of carry- 
ing real, bona fide spades and shovels originated wholly in 
our class. It has always been the custom before to wear a 
spade, cut out of white paper, on the lapel of the coat. The 
Navy Privates were dressed in blue shirts, monkey-jackets, 
&c., and presented a very sailor-like appearance. Two of 
them carried small kedges over their shoulders. The Ensign 
bore an old and tattered flag, the same which was originally 
presented by Miss Mellen of Cambridge to the Harvard "Wash- 
ington Corps. The Chaplain was dressed in a black gown, 
with an old-fashioned curly white wig on his head, which, with 
a powdered face, gave him a very sanctimonious look. He 
carried a large French Bible, which by much use had lost its 
covers. The Surgeon rode a beast which might well have 
been taken for the Rosinante of the world-renowned Don 
Quixote. This worthy ^sculapius had an infinite number 
of brown-paper bags attached to his person. He was envel- 
oped in an old plaid cloak, with a huge sign for pills fastened 
upon his shoulders, and carried before him a skull on a staff. 
His nag was very spirited, so much so as to leap over the 
chains, posts, &c., and put to flight the crowd assembled to 
see the fun. The procession, after having cheered all the 
College buildings, and the houses of the Professors, separated 
about seven o'clock, P. M." 

At first like a badger the Freshman dug, 

Fed on Latin and Greek, in his room kept snug; 

And he fondly hoped that on Ncivtj Club day 

The highest spade he might bear away. 

MS. Poem, F. E. Felton, Harv. Coll. 

NECK. To run one's neck, at WilHams College, to trust to 
luck for the success of any undertaking. 



334 COLLEGE WORDS 

ISTESCIO. Latin ; literally, I do not know. At the University 
of Cambridge, England, to sport a oiescio, to shake the head, a 
signal that one does not understand or is ignorant of the sub- 
ject. " After the Senate-House examination for degrees," 
says Grose, in liis Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 
" the students proceed to the schools, to be questioned by the 
proctor. According to custom immemorial, the answers must 
be Nescio. The following is a translated specimen : — 
" Ques. What is your name ? Ans. I do not know. 
" Ques. "What is the name of this University ? Ans. I do 
not know. 

" Ques. Who was your father ? Ans. I do not know. 

" The last is probably the only true answer of the three ! " 

NEWLING. In the German universities, a Freshman ; one 
in his first half-year. 

NEWY. At Princeton College, a fresh arrival. 

NIGHTGOWN. A dressing-gown ; a deshabille. 

No student shall appea^r within the limits of the College, or town 
of Cambridge, in any other dress than in the uniform belonging to 
his respective class, unless he shall have on a nightgown^ or such 
in outside garment as may be necessary over a coat. — Laws Harv. 
Coll., 1790. 

NOBLEMAN. In the English universities, among the Under- 
graduates, the nobleman enjoys privileges and exemptions not 
accorded to others. At Oxford he wears a black-silk gown 
with full sleeves "couped" at the elbows, and a velvet cap with 
gold tassel, except on full-dress occasions, when his habit is of 
violet-figured damask silk, richly bedight with gold lace. At 
Cambridge he wears the plain black-silk gown and the hat of 
an M. A., except on feast days and state occasions, when he 
appears in a gown still more gorgeous than that of a Fellow- 
Commoner. — Oxford Guide. Bristed. 

NO END OF. Bristed records this phrase as an intensive 
peculiar to the English Cantabs. Its import is obvious 
" They have no- end of tin ; i. e. a great deal of money. He 
is no end of a fool ; i. e. the greatest fool possible." — 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 24. 



AND CUSTOMS. 335 

The use of this expression, with a similar signification, is 
common in some portions of the United States. 
NON ENS. Latin ; hterally not h.eing. At the University of 
Cambridge, Eng., one who has not been matriculated, though 
he has resided some time at the University ; consequently 
is not considered as having any being. A Freshman in em- 
bryo. — Grad. ad Gantah. 

NON PAR AVI. Latin; literally, //iave Tzo^ljorepm-ec?. When 
Latin was spoken in the American colleges, this excuse was 
commonly given by scholars not prepared for recitation. 
With sleepy eyes and countenance heavy, 
With much excuse of non paravi. 

TrunibulVs Progress of Dullness, 1794, p. 8. 

The same excuse is now frequently given in English. 

The same individuals were also observed to be " not prepared *' 
for the morning's recitation. — Harvardiana, Vol. II. p. 2G1. 

I hear you whispering, with white lips, " Not prepared, sir." — 
Burial of Euclid, 1850, p. 9. 

NON PLACET. Latin ; literally, If is not pleasing. In the 
University of Cambridge, Eng., the term in which a negative 
vote is given in the Senate-House. 

To non-placet, with the meaning of the verb to reject, is 
sometimes used in famihar language. 

A classical examiner, having marked two candidates belonging 
to his own College much higher than the other three examiners 
did, was suspected of partiality to them, and non-placeted (rejected) 
next year when he came up for approval. — Brisled's Five Years 
in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 231. 

NON-READING MAN. See Reading IMan. 

The result of the IMay decides whether he will go out m honors 
or not, — that is, whether he will be a reading or a non-reading 
man. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 85. 

NON-REGENT. In the English universities, a term applied 
• to those Masters of Arts whose regency has ceased. — 
Webster. 
See Regent. Senate. 



OOb COLLEGE WORDS 

NON-TERM. " When any member of the Senate," says the 
Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, " dies within the University during 
term, on application to the Vice-Chancellor, the University 
bell rings an hour ; from which period Non-Term, as to public 
lectures and disputations, commences for three days." 

NON VALUI. Latin ; literally, / tvas sick. At Harvard 
College, when the students were obhged to speak Latin, it 
was usual for them to give the excuse non valui for almost 
every absence or omission. The President called upon de- 
linquents for their excuses in the chapel, after morning pray- 
ers, and these words were often pronounced so broadly as to 
sound like non volui, I did not wish [to go]. The quibble 
was not perceived for a long time, and was heartily enjoyed, 
as may be well supposed, by those who made use of it. 

No€?. Greek ; sense. A word adopted by, and in use among, 
students. 

He is a lad of more vovs, and keeps better company. — Pref. to 
Grad. ad Cantab. 

Getting the better of them in anything which required the small- 
est exertion of vovs, was like being first in a donkey-race. — Bris- 
ted's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed, 2d, p. 30. 

NUMBER FIFTY, | At Trinity College, Hartford, 

NUMBER FORTY-NINE, I the privies are known by these 
names. Jarvis Hall contains forty-eight rooms, and the num- 
bers forty-nine and fifty follow in numerical continuation, but 
with a different application. 

NUMBER TEN. At the Wesleyan University, the names 
" No. 10, and, as a sort of derivative. No. 1001, are applied 
to the privy." The former title is used also at the University 
of Vermont, and at Dartmouth College. 

NUTS. A correspondent from Williams College says, " We 
speak of a' person whom we despise as being a nuts." This 
word is used in the Yorkshire dialect with the meaning of a 
" silly fellow." Mr. HaUiwell, in his Dictionary of Archaic 
and Provincial Words, remarks : " It is not applied to an idiot, 
but to one who has been doing a foolish action." 



AND CUSTOMS. 337 



o. 

OAK. In the English universities, the outer door of a student's 
room. 

No man has a right to attack the rooms of one with whom he is 
not in the habit of intimacy. From ignorance of this axiom I had 
near got a horse-whipping, and was kicked down stairs for going to 
a wrong oak, whose tenant was not in the habit of taking jokes of 
this kind. — The Etonian^ Vol. 11. p. 287. 

A pecker, I must explain, is a heavy pointed hammer for splitting 
large coals ; an instrument often put into requisition to force open 
an oalc (an outer door), when the key of the spring latch happens 
to be left inside, and the scout has gone away. — The Collegian's 
Guide, p. 119. 

Every set of rooms is provided with an oak or outer door, with a 
spring lock, of which the master has one latch-key, and the servant 
another. — Ibid., p. 141. 

" To sport oak, or a door," says the Gradus ad Canta- 
brigiam, " is, m the modern plu^ase, to exclude duns, or other 
unpleasant intruders." It generally signifies, however, noth- 
ing more than locking or fastening one's door for safety or 
convenience. 

I always " sported my oak " whenever I went out ; and if ever I 
found any article removed from its usual place, I inquired for it ; 
and thus showed I knew where everything was last placed. — Col- 
legiarCs Guide, p. 141. 

If you persist, and say you cannot join them, you must sport your 
oak, and shut yourself into your room, and all intruders out. — 
Ibid., p. 340. 

Used also in some American colleges. 

And little did they dream who knocked hard and often at his oak 
in vain, &c. — Yale Lit. Mag., Yol. X. p. 47. 

OATHS. At Yale College, those who were engaged in the 
government were formerly required to take the oaths of 
allegiance and abjuration appointed by the Parliament of 
England. In his Discourse before the Graduates of Yale 

29 



338 COLLEGE WORDS 

College, President Woolsey gives the following account of 
this obligation : — 

'■■' The charter of 1745 imposed another test in the form 
of a political oath upon all governing officers in the College. 
They were required before they undertook the execution of 
their trusts, or within three months after, * publicly in the 
College hall [to] take the oaths, and subscribe the declara- 
tion, appointed by an act of Parliament made in the first 
year of George the First, entitled. An Act for the further 
security of his Majesty's person and government, and the 
succession of the Crown in the heirs of the late Princess 
Sophia, being Protestants, and for extinguishing the hopes 
of the pretended Prince of Wales, and his open and secret 
abettors.' We cannot find the motive for prescribing this 
oath of allegiance and abjuration in the Protestant zeal 
which was enkindled by the second Pretender's movements 
in England, — for, although belonging to this same year 
1745, these movements were subsequent to the charter, — 
but rather in the desire of removing suspicion of disloyalty, 
and conforming the practice in the College to that required 
by the law in the English universities. This oath was taken 
until it became an unlawful one, when the State assumed 
complete sovereignty at the Revolution. For some years 
afterwards, the officers took the oath of fidelity to the State 
of Connecticut, and I believe that the last instance of this 
occurred at the very end of the eighteenth century." — 
p. 40. 

In the Diary of President Stiles, under the date of July 8, 
1778, is the annexed entry, in which is given the formula of 
the oath required by the State : — 

" The oath of fidelity administered to me by the Hon. Col. 
Hamlin, one of the Council of the State of Connecticut, at 
my inauguration. 

" ' You, Ezra Stiles, do swear by the name of the ever- 
living God, that you will be true and faithful to the State of 
Connecticut, as a free and independent State, and in all 
things do your duty as a good and faithful subject of the said 



AND CUSTOMS. 339 

State, in supporting the rights, liberties, and privileges of the 
same. So help you God.' 

" This oath, substituted instead of that of allegiance to 
the King by the Assembly of Connecticut, May, 1777, to be 
taken by all in tliis State ; and so it comes into use in Yale 
College." — Woolsey's Hist. Discourse, Appendix, p. 117. 
Ot ApKTToi. Greek ; literally, the bravest. At Princeton Col- 
lege, the aristocrats, or would-be aristocrats, are so called. 
Ot IloXXot. Greek ; literally, the many. 

See PoLLOi. 
OLD BURSCH. A name given in the German universities 
to a student during his fourth term. Students of this term 
are also designated Old Ones. 

As they came forward, they were obliged to pass under a pair of 
naked swords, held crosswise by two Old Ones. — Longfellow's Hy- 
perion, p. 110. 

OLD HOUSE. A name given in the German universities to 
a student during his fifth term. 

OPPONENCY. The opening of an academical disputation ; 
the proposition of objections to a tenet ; an exercise for a 
degree. — Todd. 

Mr. Webster remarks, " I believe not used in America." 
In the old times, the university discharged this duty [teaching] 
by means of the public readings or lectures, and by the keep- 
ing of acts and opponencies — being certain viva voce disputations 
— by the students. — The English Universities and their Reforms^ 
m Blackwood's Magazine, Feb. 1849. 

OPPONENT. In universities and colleges, where disputations 
are carried on, the opponent is, in technical application, the 
person who begins the dispute by raising objections to some 
tenet or doctrine. 

OPTIME. The title of those who stand in the second and 
third ranks of honors, immediately after the Wranglers, in the 
University of Cambridge, Eng. They are called respectively 
Senior and Junior Optimes. 

See Junior Optime, Polloi, and Senior Optime. 



340 COLLEGE WORDS 

OPTIONAL. At some American colleges, the student is 
obliged to pursue during a part of the course such studies as 
are prescribed. During another portion of the course, he is 
allowed to select from certain branches those which he desires 
to follow. The latter are called optional studies. In familiar 
conversation and writing, the word optional is used alone. 
For optionals will come our way, 
And lectures furnish time to play, 
'Neath elm-tree shade to smoke all day. 

Songs, Biennial Jubilee, Yale Coll., 1855. 
ORIGINAL COMPOSITION. At the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., an essay or theme written by a student in Latin, 
Greek, or Hebrew, is termed original composition. 

Composition there is of course, but more Latin than Greek, and 
some original Composition. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 137. 

Original Composition — that is, Composition in the true sense of 
the word — in the dead languages is not much practised. — Ibid., 
p. 185. 

OVERSEER. The general government of the colleges in 
the United States is vested in some instances in a Corpora- 
tion, in others in a Board of Trustees or Overseers, or, as 
in the case of Harvard College, in the two combined. The 
duties of the Overseers are, generally, to pass such orders 
and statutes as seem to them necessary for the prosperity 
of the college whose affairs they oversee, to dispose of its 
funds in such a manner as will be most advantageous, to 
appoint committees to visit it and examine the students con- 
nected with it, to ratify the appointment of instructors, and 
to hear such reports of the proceedings of the college gov- 
ernment as require their concurrence. 

OXFORD. The cap worn by the members of the University 
of Oxford, England, is called an Oxford or Oxford cap. The 
same is worn at some American colleges on Exhibition and 
Commencement Days. In shape, it is square and flat, cov- 
ered with black cloth; from the centre depends a tassel of 
black cord. It is further described in the following passage. 



AND CUSTOMS. 



341 



My back equipped, it was not fair 

My head should 'scape, and so, as square 

As chessboard, 
A cap I bought, my skull to screen, 
Of cloth without, and all within 

Of pasteboard. 
Terrce-Filius, Vol. II. p. 225. 
Thunders of clapping ! — As he bows, on high 
" Pr£eses" his " Oxford" doffs, and bows reply. 

Cliilde Harvard^ p. 36. 

It is sometimes called a trencher cap, from its shape. 

See Cap. 
OXFORD-MIXED. Cloth such as is worn at the University 
of Oxford, England. The students in Harvard College were 
formerly required to wear this kind of cloth as their uniform. 
The color is given in the following passage : " By black-mixed 
(called also Oxford-mixed) is understood, black with a mix- 
ture of not more than one twentieth, nor less than one twenty- 
fifth, part of white." — Laws of Harv. Coll., 1826, p. 25. 

He generally dresses in Oxford-mixed pantaloons, and a brown 
surtout. — Collegian^ p. 240. 

It has disappeared along with Commons, the servility of Fresh- 
men and brutality of Sophomores, the Oxford-mixed uniform and 
buttons of the same color. — Harv. Mag., VoL I. p. 263. 

OXONIAN. A student or graduate of the University of Ox- 
ford, England. 



P. 

PANDOWDY BAND. A correspondent writing from Bow- 
doin College says : " We use the word pandowdy, and we 
have a custom o^ pandowdy ing. The Pandowdy Band, as it is 
called, has no regular place nor time of meeting. The num- 
ber of performers varies from half a dozen and less to fifty 
29* 



342 COLLEGE WORDS 

or more. The instruments used are commonly horns, drums, 
tin-kettles, tongs, shovels, triangles, pumpkin-vines, &c The 
object of the band is serenading Professors who have ren- 
dered themselves obnoxious to students ; and sometimes others, 
— frequently tutors are entertained by 'heavenly music' 
under their windows, at dead of night. This is regarded on 
all hands as an unequivocal expression of the feelings of the 
students. 

" The band corresponds to the Galliathump of Yale. Its 
name is a burlesque on the Pandean Band which formerly 
existed in this college." 
See Horn-Blowing. 
PAPE. Abbreviated from Paper, q. v. 

Old Hamlen, the printer, he got out the papes. 

Presentation Day Songs, Yale CoU., June 14, 1854. 
But Soph'more ^^ papes" and Soph'more scrapes, 
Have long since passed away. — Ibid. 
PAPER. In the English Universities, a sheet containing cer- 
tain questions, to which answers are to be given, is called a 
paper. 

To heat a paper, is to get more than full marks for it. In 
explanation of this " apparent Hibernicism," Bristed re- 
marks : " The ordinary text-books are taken as the standard 
of excellence, and a very good man will sometimes express 
the operations more neatly and cleverly than they are worded 
in these books, in which case he is entitled to extra marks 
for style." — Five Tears in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 238. 

2. This name is applied at Yale College to the printed 
scheme which is used at the Biennial Examinations. Also, 
at Harvard College, to the prmted sheet by means of which 
the examination for entrance is conducted. 
PARCHMENT. A diploma, from the substance on which it 
is usually printed, is in familiar language sometimes called a 
parchment. 

There are some, who, relying not upon the ^^parchnent and seal " 
as a passport to favor, bear that with them which shall challenge 
notice and admiration. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. HI. p. 365. 



AND CUSTOMS. 343 

The passer-by, unskilled in ancient lore, 

Whose hands the ribboned parchment never bore. 

Class Poem at Harv. Coll., 1835, p. 7. 
See Sheepskin. 

PARIETAL. From Latin paries, a wall ; properly, a parti' 
tion-wall, from the root of part or pare. Pertaining to a 
wall. — Webster. 

At Harvard College the officers resident within the Col- 
lege walls constitute a permanent standing committee, called 
the Parietal Committee. They have particular cognizance 
of all tardinesses at prayers and Sabbath services, and of all 
offences against good order and decorum. They are allowed 
to deduct from the rank of a student, not exceeding one hun- 
dred for one offence. In case any offence seems to them to 
require a higher punishment than deduction, it is reported to 
the Faculty. — Laws, 1850, App. 

Had I forgotten, alas ! the stern parikal monitions ? 

Harvardiana, Yol. in. p. 98. 

The chairman of the Parietal Committee is often called the 
Parietal Tutor. 

I see them shaking their fists in the face of the parietal tutor. — 
Oration before H. L. of I. 0. of 0. F., 1849. 

The members of the committee are called, in common 
parlance, Parietals. 

Four rash and inconsiderate proctors, two tutors, and five parie- 
tals, each with a mug and pail in his hand, in their great haste to 
arrive at the scene of conflagration, ran over the Devil, and knocked 
him down stairs. — Harvardiana, Vol. HI. p. 124. 

And at the loud laugh of thy gurghng throat. 
The parikals would forget themselves. 

Ibid., Yol. III. p. 399 et passim. 

Did not thy starting eyeballs think to see 
Some goblin parietal grin at thee ? 

Ibid., Yol. lY. p. 197. 
The deductions made by the Parietal Committee are also 
called Parietals. 



344- COLLEGE WORDS 

How now, ye secret, dark, and tuneless chanters, 
What is 't ye do ? Beware the parihtals. 

Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 44. 
B-eckon on the fingers of your mind the reprimands, deductions, 
parietals, and privates in store for you. — Orat. H. L. of I. 0. of 
O. F., 1848. 

The accent of this word is on the antepenult ; by poetic 
license, in four of the passages above quoted, it is placed on 
the penult. 
PART. A literary appointment assigned to a student to be kept 
at an Exhibition or Commencement. In Harvard College, 
as soon as the parts for an Exhibition or Commencement are 
assigned, the subjects and the names of the performers are 
given to some member of one of the higher classes, who 
proceeds to read them to the students from a window of one 
of the buildings, after proposing the usual " tliree cheers " 
for each of the classes, designating them by the years in 
which they are to graduate. As the name of each person 
who has a part assigned him is read, the students respond 
with cheers. This over, the classes are again cheered, 
the reader of the parts is applauded, and the crowd disperse, 
except when the mock parts are read, or the officers of the 
Navy Club resign their trusts. 

Referring to the proceedings consequent upon the an- 
nouncement of appointments. Professor Sidney Willard, in 
his late work, entitled " Memories of Youth and Manhood," 
says of Harvard College : " The distribution of parts to be 
performed at public exhibitions by the students was, particu- 
larly for the Commencement exhibition, more than fifty years 
ago, as it still is, one of the most exciting events of College life 
among those immediately interested, in which parents and 
near friends also deeply sympathized with them. These parts 
were communicated to the individuals appointed to perform 
them by the President, who gave to them, severally, a paper, 
with the name of the person and of the part assigned, and 
the subject to be written upon. But they were not then, as 
in recent times, after being thus communicated by the Presi- 



AND CUSTOMS. 345 

dent, proclaimed by a voluntary herald of stentorian lungs, 
mounted on the steps of one of the College halls, to the as- 
sembled crowd of students. Curiosity, however, was all alive. 
Each one's part was soon ascertained ; the comparative 
merits of those who obtained the prizes were discussed in 
groups ; prompt judgments were pronounced, that A had 
received a higher prize than he could rigntfuUy claim, and 
that B w^as cruelly wronged ; that some were unjustly passed 
over, and others raised above them through partiality. But 
at whatever length their discussion might have been pro- 
longed, they would have found it difficult in solemn conclave 
to adjust the distribution to their own satisfaction, while sev- 
erally they deemed themselves competent to measure the 
degree in the scale of merit to which each was entitled." — 
Vol. I. pp. 328, 329. 

I took but little pains with these exercises myself, lest I should 
appear to be anxious for " parts" — Monthly Anthology^ Boston, 
1804, Vol. I p. 154. 

Often, too, the qualifications for a part are discussed in the 

fireside circles so peculiar to college. — Harv. Reg., p. 378. 

The refusal of a student to perform the part assigned him -will be 
regarded as a high offence. — Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass., 1848, 
p. 19. 

Young men within the College walls are incited to good conduct 
and diligence, by the system of awarding parts, as they are called, 
at the exhibitions which take place each year, and at the annual 
Commencement. — Eliofs Sketch of Hist. Harv. Coll., pp. 114, 
115. 

It is very common to speak of getting parts. 

Here 
Are acres of orations, and so forth, 
The glorious nonsense that enchants young hearts 
With all the humdrumology of ^^ getting parts." 

Our Chronicle of '26, Boston, 1827, p. 28. 
See under Mock-Part and Navy Club. 

PASS. At Oxford, permission to receive the degree of B. A. 
after passing the necessary examinations. 



346 COLLEGE WORDS 

The good news of the pass will be a set-off against the few small 
debts. — Collegian's Guide, p. 254. 

PASS EXAMINATION. At the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., an examination which is required for the B. A. degree. 
Of these examinations there are three during a student's un- 
dergraduateship. 

Even the examinations which are disparagingly known as '■'-pass " 
ones, the Previous, the Poll, and (since the new regulations) the 
Junior Optime, require more than half marks on their papers. — 
Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 319. 

PASSMAN. At Oxford, one who merely passes his exami- 
nation, and obtains testimonials for a degree, but is not able 
to obtain any honors or distinctions. Opposed to Class- 
man, q. V. 

" Have the passmen done their paper work yet ? " asked Whit- 
bread. " However, the schools, I dare say, will not be open to the 
classmen till Monday." — Collegian's Guide, p. 309. 

PATHON. At some of the Colleges in the United States, the 
patron is appointed to take charge of the funds, and to regu- 
late the expenses, of students who reside at a distance. 
Formerly, students who came within this provision were 
obliged to conform to the laws in reference to the patron ; it 
is now left optional. 
P. D. An abbreviation of PMlosopMce Doctor, Doctor of 
Philosophy. "In the German universities," says Brande, 
" the title ^ Doctor Philosophise ' has long been substituted 
for Baccalaureus Artium or Literarium." 
PEACH. To inform against ; to commmiicate facts by way 
of accusation. 

It being rather advisable to enter college before twelve, or to stay 
out all night, bribing the bed-maker next morning not to peach. — 
Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 190. 

When, by a little spying, I caji reach 
The height of my ambition, I must peac/i. 

The Gallinipper, Dec. 1849. 

PEMBPOKER. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a 
member of Pembroke College. 



AND CUSTOMS. 347 

The PembroTcer was booked to lead the Tripos. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 158. 
PENE. Latin, almost, nearly. A candidate for admission to 
the Freshman Class is called a Pene, that is, almost a Fresh- 
man. 
PENNILESS BENCH. Archdeacon Nares, in his Glossary, 
says of this phrase : " A cant term for a state of poverty. 
There was a public seat so called in Oxford ; but I fancy it 
was rather named from the common saying, than that derived 
from it." 

Bid him bear up, he shall not 
Sit long on penniless bench. 

Mass. City Mad., IV. 1. 
That everie stool he sate on was pennilesse bench, that his robes 
were rags. — Euphues and his Engl., D. 3. 

PENSIONER. French, pensionnaire, one who pays for his 
board. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., and in that 
of Dublin, a student of the second rank, who is not dependent 
on the foundation for support, but pays for his board and 
other charges. Equivalent to Commoner at Oxford, or Op- 
piDANT of Eton school. — Brande. Gent. Mag., 1795. 

PERUVIAN. At the University of Vermont, a name by 
which the students designate a lady ; e. g., " There are two 
hundred Peruvians at the Seminary " ; or, " The Peruvians 
are in the observatory." As illustrative of the use of this 
word, a correspondent observes : " If John Smith has a par- 
ticular regard for any one of the Burlington ladies, and Tom 
Brown happens to meet the said lady in his town peregrina- 
tions, when he returns to College, if he meets John Smith, 
he (Tom) says to John, ' In yonder village I espied a Peru- 
vian ' ; by which John understands that Tom has had the 
very great pleasure of meeting John's Dulcinea." 

PETTY COMPOUNDER. At Oxford, one who pays more 
than ordinary fees for his degree. 

" A Petty Compounder,'^ says the Oxford University Cal- 
endar, "must possess ecclesiastical income of the annual 



348 



COLLEGE WORDS 



value of five shillings, or property of any other description 
amounting in all to the sum of five pounds, per annum." — 
Ed. 1832, p. 92. 

PHEEZE, or FEEZE. At the University of Vermont, to 
pledge. If a student is pledged to join any secret society, he 
is said to he pheezed ox feezed. 

PHI BETA KAPPA. The fraternity of the $ B K "was 
imported," says AUyn in his Ritual, " into this country from 
France, in the year 1776 ; and, as it is said, by Thomas Jef- 
ferson, late President of the United States." It was origi- 
nally chartered as a society in William and Mary College, in 
Virginia, and was organized at Yale College, Nov. 13th, 

1780. By virtue of a charter formally executed by the 
president, officers, and members of the original society, it 
was established soon after at Harvard College, through the 
influence of Mr. Elisha Parmele, a graduate of the year 
1778. The first meeting in Cambridge was held Sept. 5th, 

1781. The original Alpha of Virginia is now extinct.. 

" Its objects," says Mr. Quincy, in his History of Harvard 
University, " were the ' promotion of literature and friendly 
intercourse among scholars ' ; and its name and motto indi- 
cate, that ' philosophy, including therein religion as well as 
" ethics, is worthy of cultivation as the guide of life.' This 
society took an early and a deep root in the University ; its 
exercises became public, and admittance into it an object of 
ambition ; but the ' discrimination ' which its selection of 
members made among students, became an early subject 
of question and discontent. In October, 1789, a committee 
of the Overseers, of which John Hancock was chairman, 
reported to that board, *that there is an institution in the 
University, with the nature of which the government is not 
acquainted, which tends to make a discrimination among the 
students ' ; and submitted to the board ' the propriety of in- 
quiring into its nature and designs.' The subject occasioned 
considerable debate, and a petition, of the nature of a com- 
plaint against the society, by a number of the members of 



AND CtfSTOMS. 349 

the Senior Class, having been presented, its consideration 
was postponed, and it was committed ; but it does not appear 
from the records, that any further notice was taken of the 
petition. The influence of the society was upon the whole 
deemed salutary, since literary merit was assumed as the 
principle on which its members were selected ; and, so far, 
its influence harmonized with the honorable motives to exer- 
tion which have ever been held out to the students by the 
laws and usages of the College. In process of time, its cata- 
logue included almost every member of the Immediate Gov- 
ernment, and fairness in the selection of members has been 
in a great degree secured by the practice it has adopted, of 
ascertaining those in every class who stand the highest, in 
point of conduct and scholarship, according to the estimates 
of the Faculty of the College, and of generally regarding 
those estimates. Having gradually increased in numbers, 
popularity, and importance, the day after Commencement 
was adopted for its annual celebration. These occasions 
have uniformly attracted a highly intelligent and cultivated 
audience, having been marked by a display of learning and 
eloquence, and having enriched the literature of the country 
with some of its brightest gems." — Vol. II. p. 398. 

The immediate members of the society at Cambridge were 
formerly accustomed to hold semi-monthly meetings, the ex- 
ercises of which were such as are usual in literary associa- 
tions. At present, meetings are seldom held except for the 
purpose of electing members. Afiiliated societies have been 
established at Dartmouth, Union, and Bowdoin Colleges, at 
Brown and the Wesleyan Universities, at the Western Re- 
serve College, at the University of Vermont, and at Amherst 
College, and they number among their members many of the 
most distinguished men in our country. The letters which 
constitute the name of the society are the initials of its motto, 
#tXooro(^ia, Blov Kv^epvrjTrjs, Philosophy, the Guide of Life. 

A further account of this society may be found in AUyn's 
Ritual of Freemasonry, ed. 1831, pp. 296-302. 
PHILISTINE. In Germany this name, or what corresponds 
30 



350 COLLEGE WORDS 

to it in that country, Philister, is given by the students to 

tradesmen and others not belonging to the university. 

Unl> (;cit tev SBuvfd; fetn @e(t) m ^eutcf, 
©0 pumpt er tie 9)()ittf?a- mx. 

And has the Bursch his cash expended ? 
To sponge the PMlistine 's his plan. 

The Crambamhidi Song. 

IMr. HaUiwell, in liis Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial 
Words, says of this word, " a cant term applied to bailiffs, 
sheriffs' officers, and drunkards." The idea of narrow- 
mindedness, a contracted mode of thinking, and meanness, 
is usually connected with it, and in some colleges in the 
United States the name has been given to those whose 
characters correspond with this description. 

See Snob. 

PHRASING. Reciting by, or giving the words or phrase- 
ology of the book, without understanding their meaning. 

Never should you allow yourself to think of gomg into the reci- 
tation-room, and there trust to " skinning it," as it is called in some 
colleges, or '•' phrasing" as in others. — Todd's Student's Manual, 
p. 115. 

PIECE. "Be it known, at Cambridge the various Commons 
and other places open for the gymnastic games, and the like 
public amusements, are usually denominated Pieces.^' — Alma 
Mater, London, 1827, Vol. II. p. 49. 

PIETAS ET GRATULATIO. On the death of George the 
Second, and accession of George the Third, Mr. Bernard, 
Governor of Massachusetts, suggested to Harvard College 
^ the expediency of expressing sympathy and congratulation 
on these events, in conformity with the practice of the English 
universities." Accordingly, on Saturday, March 14, 1761, 
there was placed in the Chapel of Harvard College the follow- 
ing " Proposal for a Celebration of the Death of the late 
King, and the Accession of his present Majesty, by members 
of Harvard College." 

" Six guineas are given for a prize of a guinea each to 
the Author of the best composition of the following several 



AND CUSTOMS. 351 

kinds : — 1. A Latin Oration. 2. A Latin Poem, in hexame- 
ters. 3. A Latin Elegy, in hexameters and pentameters. 
4. A Latin Ode. 5. An English Poem, in long verse. 
6. An EngHsh Ode. 

" Other Compositions, besides those that obtain the prizes, 
that are most deserving, will be taken particular notice of. 

"The candidates are to be, all. Gentlemen who are now 
members of said College, or have taken a degree within 
seven years. 

" Any Candidate may deliver two or more compositions of 
different kinds, but not more than one of the same kind. 

" That Gentlemen may be more encouraged to try their 
talents upon this occasion, it is proposed that the names of 
the Candidates shall be kept secret, except those who shall 
be adjudged to deserve the prizes, or to have particular no- 
tice taken of their Compositions, and even these shall be kept 
secret if desired. 

" For this purpose, each Candidate is desired to send his 
Composition to the President, on or before the first day of 
July next, subscribed at the bottom with a feigned name or 
motto, and, in a distinct paper, to write his own name and 
seal it up, writing the feigned name or motto on the outside. 
None of the sealed papers containing the real names will be 
opened, except those that are adjudged to obtain the prizes 
or to deserve particular notice ; the rest will be burned 
sealed." 

This proposal resulted in a work entitled, " Pietas et 
Gratulatio Collegii Cantabrigiensis apud Novanglos." In 
January, 1762, the Corporation passed a vote, "that the 
collections in prose and verse in several languages composed 
by some of the members of the College, on the motion of 
his Excellency our Governor, Francis Bernard, Esq., on 
occasion of the death of his late Majesty, and the accession 
of his present Majesty, be printed ; and that his Excellency 
be desired to send, if he shall judge it proper, a copy of the 
same to Great Britain, to be presented to his Majesty, in the 
name of the Corporation." 



352 COLLEaE AVORDS 

Quincy thus speaks of the collection : — " Governor Ber- 
nard not only suggested the work, but contributed to it. Five 
of the thirty-one compositions, of which it consists, were from 
his pen. The Address to the King is stated to have been 
written by him, or by Lieutenant-Governor Hutcliinson. Its 
style and turn of thought indicate the politician rather than 
the student, and savor of the senate-chamber more than of the 
academy. The classical and poetic merits of the work bear 
a fair comparison with those of European maiversities on 
similar occasions, allowance being made for the difference in 
the state of science and literature in the respective countries ; 
and it is the most creditable specimen extant of the art of 
printing, at that period, in the Colonies. The work is re- 
spectfully noticed by the ' Critical ' and ' Monthly ' Reviews, 
and an Ode of the President is pronounced by both to be 
written in a style truly Horatian. In the address prefixed, 
the hope is expressed, that, as ' English colleges have had 
kings for their nursing fathers, and queens for their nursing 
mothers, this of North America might experience the royal 
munificence, and look up to the throne for favor and patron- 
age.' In May, 1763, letters were received from Jasper 
Mauduit, agent of the Province, mentioning ' the presentation 
to his Majesty of the book of verses from the College,' but 
the records give no indication of the manner in which it was 
received. The thoughts of George the Third were occupied, 
not with patronizing learning m the Colonies, but with de- 
riving revenue from them, and Harvard College was indebted 
to him for no act of aclmowledgment or munificence." — 
Quincifs Hist, of Harv. Univ., Vol. II. pp. 103-105. 

The Charleston Courier, in an article entitled " Literary 
Sparring," says of this production : — " When, as late as 1761 
Harvard University sent forth, in Greek, Latin, and English, 
its congratulations on the accession of George the Thu-d to 
the throne, it was called, in England, a curiosity." — BucMng- 
ham's Miscellanies from the Public Journals, Vol. I. p. 103. 

Mr. Kendall, an English traveller, who visited Cambridge 
in the year 1807 - 8, notices this work as follows : — "In the 



AND CUSTOMS. 353 

year 1761,' on the death of George the Second and the acces- 
sion of his present Majesty, Harvard College, or, as on this 
occasion it styles itself, Cambridge College, produced a vol- 
ume of tributary verses, in English, Latin, and Greek, entitled, 
Pietas et Gratulatio Collegii Cantabrigiensis apud Novanglos ; 
and this collection, the first received, and, as it has since ap- 
peared, the last to be received, from this seminary, by an 
English king, was cordially welcomed by the critical journals 
of the time." — KendalVs Travels, Vol. III. p. 12. 

For further remarks, consult the Monthly Review, Vol. 
XXIX. p. 22; Critical Review, Vol. X. p. 284; and the 
Monthly Anthology, Vol. VI. pp. 422 - 427 ; Vol VII. p. 67. 

PILL. Li English Cantab parlance, twaddle, platitude. — 

3risted. 
PIMP. To do little, mean actions for the purpose of gaining 
favor with a superior, as, in college, with an instructor. The 
verb with this meaning is derived from the adjective pimping, 
which signifies little, petty. 

Did I not promise those who fished 
And pimped most, any part they wished. 

The ReheUiad, p. 33. 
PISCATORIAN. From the Latin joz5cator, a fishei-man. One 
who seeks or gains favor with a teacher by being ofiicious 
toward him. 

This word was much used at Harvard College in the 
year 1822, and for a few years after ; it is now very seldom 
heard. 

See under Fish. 

PIT. In the University of Cambridge, the place in St. Mary's 
Church reserved for the accommodation of Masters of Arts 
and Fellow-Commoners is jocularly styled the pit. — Grad. 
ad Cantah. 

PLACE. In the older American colleges, the situation of a 

student in the class of which he was a member was formerly 

decided, in a measure, by the rank and circumstances of his 

famUy ; this was called placing. The Hon. Paine Wingate, 

30* 



354 COLLEGE WORDS 

who graduated at Harvard College in the year 1759, says, 
m one of his letters to Mr. Peirce : — 

"You inquire of me whether any regard was paid to a 
student on account of the rank of his parent, otherwise than 
his being an'anged or placed in the order of his class ? 

" The right of precedence on every occasion is an object 
of importance in the state of society. And there is scarce 
anything wliich more sensibly affects the feelings of ambition 
than the rank which a man is allowed to hold. This excite- 
ment was generally called up whenever a class in college 
was placed. The parents were not wholly free from influence ; 
but the scholars were often enraged beyond bounds for their 
disappointment in their place, and it was some time before a 
class could be settled down to an acquiescence in their allot- 
ment. The highest and the lowest in the class was often as- 
certained more easily (though not without some difficulty) 
than the intermediate members of the class, where there was 
room for uncertainty whose claim was best, and where par- 
tiality, no doubt, was sometimes indulged. But I must add, 
that, although the honor of a place in the class was chiefly 
ideal, yet there were some substantial advantages. The high- 
er part of the class had generally the most influential friends, 
and they commonly had the best chambers in CoUege assigned 
to them. They had also a right to help themselves first at 
table in Commons, and I believe generally, wherever there 
was occasional precedence allowed, it was very freely yielded 
to the higher of the class by those who were below. 

" The Freshman Class was, in my day at college, usually 
placed (as it was termed) within six or nine months after 
their admission. The official notice of this was given by 
having their names written in a large German text, in a 
handsome style, and placed in a conspicuous part of the Col- 
lege Buttery, where the names of the four classes of under- 
graduates were kept suspended until they left College. If a 
scholar was expelled, his name was taken from its place ; or 
if he was degraded (which was considered the next highest 
punishment to expulsion), it was moved accordingly. As 



AND CUSTOMS. 355 

soon as the Freshmen were apprised of their places, each 
one took his station according to the new arrangement at 
recitation, and at Commons, and in the Chapel, and on all 
other occasions. And this arrangement was never afterward 
altered, either in College or in the Catalogue, however the 
rank of their pai'ents might be varied. Considering how 
much dissatisfaction was often excited by placing the classes 
(and I believe all other colleges had laid aside the practice), 
I think that it was a judicious expedient in Harvard to con- 
form to the custom of putting the names in alphabetical order, 
and they have accordingly so remained since the year 1772." 
— Peirce's Hist', of Haw. Univ., pp. 308-311. 

In his " Annals of Yale College," Ebenezer Baldwin ob- 
serves on the subject : " Doctor D wight, soon after his elec- 
tion to the Presidency [1795], effected various important 
alterations in the collegiate laws. The statutes of the in- 
stitution had been chiefly adopted from those of European 
universities, where the footsteps of monarchical regulation 
were discerned even in the walks of science. So difficult 
was it to divest the minds of wise men of the influence of 
venerable foUies, that the printed catalogues of students, until 
the year 1768, were arranged according to respectability of 
parentage." — p. 147. 

See Degradation. 

PLACET. Latin ; literally, it is pleasing. In the University 
of Cambridge, Eng., the term in which an affirmative vote 
is given in the Senate-House. 

PLUCK. In the Enghsh universities, a refusal of testimonials 
for a degree. 

The origm of this word is thus stated in the Collegian's 
Guide : " At the time of conferring a degree, just as the 
name of each man to be presented to the Vice- Chancellor is 
read out, a proctor walks once up and down, to give any per- 
son who can object to the degree an opportunity of signify- 
ing his dissent, which is done by plucking or pulling the 
proctor's gown. Hence another and more common mode of 



356 COLLEGE WORDS 

stopping a degree, by refusing the testamur, or certificate of 
proficiency, is also called plucking." — p. 203. 

On the same word, the author in another place remarks 
as follows : " As long back as my memory will carry me, 
down to the present day, there has been scarcely a mono- 
syllable in our language which seemed to convey so stinging 
a reproach, or to let a man do^Ti in the general estimation 
half as much, as this one word Pluck." — p. 288. 
PLUCKED. A cant term at the English universities, applied 
to those who, for want of scholarship, are refused their testi- 
monials for a degree." — Oxford Ckiide. 

Who had at length scrambled through the pales and discipline 
of the Senate-House without being pluclced, and miraculously ob- 
tained the title of A. B. — Gent Mag., 1795, p. 19. 

O what a misery is it to be plucked I Not long since, an under- 
graduate was driven mad by it, and committed suicide. — The term 
itself is contemptible : it is associated with the meanest, the most 
stupid and spiritless animals of creation. When we hear of a man 
being plucked, we think he is necessarily a goose. — Collegian's 
Guide, p. 288. 

Poor Lentulus, twice plucked, some happy day 
Just shufiles through, and dubs himself B. A. 

The. College, in Blackivoods Mag., May, 1849. 

POKER. At Oxford, Eng., a cant name for a hedel 

If the visitor see an unusual " state " walking about, in shape of 
an individual preceded by a quantity of pokers, or, which is the 
same thing, men, that is bedels, carrying maces, jocularly called 
pokers, he may be sure that that individual is the Vice-Chancellor. 
Oxford Guide, 1847, p. xii. 

POLE. At Princeton and Union Colleges, to study hard, e. g. 

to pole out the lesson. To pole on sl composition, to take 

pains with it. 
POLER. One who studies hard ; a close student. As a boat 

is impelled with poks, so is the student by poling, and it is 

perhaps from this analogy that the word poler is applied to a 

diligent student. 
POLlNG. Close application to study; diligent attention to 

the specified pursuits of college. 



AND CUSTOMS. 357 

A wi'iter defines poling, " wasting the midniglit oil iii com- 
pany with a wine-bottle, box of cigars, a ' deck of eucre,' and 
three kindred spirits," thus leaving its real meaning to be de- 
duced from its opposite. — Sophomore Independent, Union 
College, Nov., 1854. 
POLL. Abbreviated from Polloi. 

Several declared that they would go out in " the Poll " (among 
the TToXXoL, those not candidates for honors). — Bristed's Five Years 
in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 62. 

At Cambridge, those candidates for a degree who do not aspire 
to honors are said to go out in the poll ; this being the abbreviated 
term to denote those who were classically designated ol ttoXXol. — 
TJie Englisli Universities and their Reforms, in Blackwood's Maga- 
zine, Feb. 1849. 

POLLOL ol HoXXot, the many. In the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., those who take their degree without any honor. 
After residing something more than three years at this Uni- 
versity, at the conclusion of the tenth term comes off the final 
examination in the Senate-House. He who passes this ex- 
amination in the best manner is called Senior Wrangler. 
" Then follow about twenty, all called Wranglers, arranged 
in the order of merit. Two other ranks of honors are there, 
— Senior Optimes and Junior Optimes, each containing about 
twenty. The last Junior Optime is termed the Wooden 
Spoon. Then comes the list of the large majority, called the 
Hoy Polloi, the first of whom is named the Captain of the 
Poll, and the twelve last, the Apostles." — Alma Mater, Yol. 
L p. 3. 

2. Used by students to denote the rabble. 

On Learning's sea, his hopes of safety buoy, 
He sinks for ever lost among the ol izoWoi 

The Crayon, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 21. 

PONS ASINORUM. Vide Asses' Bridge. 

PONY. A translation. So called, it may be, from the fleet- 
ness and ease with which a skiJful rider is enabled to pass 
over places which to a common plodder present many ob- 
stacles. 



358 COLLEGE WORDS 

One writer jocosely defines tliis literaiy nag as " the ani- 
mal that ambulates so dehghtfuUy through all the pleasant 
paths of knowledge, from whose back the student may look 
down on the weary pedestrian, and ' thank his stars ' that 
' he who runs may read.' " — Sophomore Independent, Union 
College, Nov. 1854. 

And stick to the law, Tom, without a Pony. — Harv. Reg., p. 
194. 

And when leaving, leave behind us 

Ponies for a lower class ; 
Ponies, which perhaps another, 

Toiling up the College hill, 
A forlorn, a " younger brother," 
" Riding," may rise higher stUI. 

Poem before the Y. H. Soc, 1849, p. 12. 
Their lexicons, ponies, and text-books were strewed round their 
lamps on the table. — A Tour tlirougli College, Boston, 1832, p. 30. 

In the way of '■'■pony," or translation, to the Greek of Father 
Griesbach, the New Testament was wonderfully convenient. — ' New 
England Magazine, Vol. HI. p. 208. 

The notes are just what notes should be ; they are not a ^^ony, 
but a guide. — Southern Lit. Mess. 

Instead of plodding on foot along the dusty, well-worn McAdam 
of learning, why will you take nigh cuts on ponies f — Yale Lit. 
iJ%., Vol. Xin. p. 281. 

The " board " requests that all who present themselves will bring 
along the ponies they have used since their first entrance into Col- 
lege. — The Gallinipper, Dec. 1849. 

The tutors with ponies their lessons were learning. 

Yale Banger, Nov, 1850. 
We do think, that, with such a team of ^'■ponies" and load of 
commentators, his instruction might evince more accuracy. — Yale 
Tomahawk, Feb. 1851. 

In knowledge's road ye are but asses, 
While we on ponies ride before. 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 7. 

PONY. To use a translation. 



I 



AND CUSTOMS. 359 

We learn tbat they do not pony their lessons. — Yale Tomahawk, 
May, 1852. 

If you j)(yiiy, he will see, 
And before the Faculty 
You will surely summoned be. 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 23. 

POPPING. At William aiid Maiy College, getting the ad- 
vantage over another in argument is called popping him. 

POPULARITY. In the college use, favor of one's classmates, 
or of the members of all the classes, generally. Nowhere is 
this term employed so often, and with so much significance, 
as among collegians. The first wish of the Freshman is to 
be popular, and the desire does not leave him during all his 
college life. For remarks on this subject, see the Literary 
Miscellany, Vol. II. p. 56; Amherst Indicator, Vol. II. p. 
123, et passim. 

PORTIONIST. One who has a certain academical allowance 
or portion. — Webster. 
See Postmaster. 

POSTED. Rejected in a college examination. Term used at 
the University of Cambridge, Eng. — Bristed. 

Fifty marks will prevent one from being '''posted" but there are 
always two or three too stupid as well as idle to save their " Post." 
These drones are posted separately, as ' ' not worthy to be classed," 
and privately slanged afterwards by the Master and Seniors. 
Should a man ho, posted twice in succession, he is generally recom- 
mended to try the air of some Small College, or devote his energies 
to some other walk of life. — Bristed' s Five Years in an Eng. Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 74. 

POSTMASTER. In Merton CoUege, Oxford, the scholars 
who are supported on the foundation are called Postmasters, 
or Portionists (Porti07iistce). — Oxf. Guide. 

The postmasters anciently performed the duties of choristers, and 
their payment for this duty was six shillings and fourpence per an- 
num. — Oxford Guide, Ed. 1847, p. 36. 

POW-WOW. At Yale College on the evening of Presenta- 
tion Day, the Seniors being excused from further attendance 



360 COLLEGE WORDS 

at prayers, the classes who remain change theu' seats in the 
chapel. It was formerly customary for the Freshmen, on 
taking the Sophomore seats, to signalize the event by ap- 
pearing at chapel in grotesque dresses. The impropriety of 
such conduct has abolished this custom, but on the recurrence 
of the day, a uniformity is sometimes observable in the paper 
collars or white neck-cloths of the in-coming Sophomores, as 
they file in at vespers. During the evening, the Fresh- 
men are accustomed to assemble on the steps of the State- 
House, and celebrate the occasion by speeches, a torch-light 
procession, and the accompaniment of a band of music. 

The students are forbidden to occupy the State-House steps on 
the evening of Presentation Day, since the Faculty design hereafter 
to have a Pow-wow there, as on the last. — Burlesque Catalogue, 
Yale Coll., 1852-53, p. 35. 

PRJESES. The Latin for President. 

^^Prceses" his " Oxford" doffs, and bows reply. 

CJiitde Harvard, p. 36. 
Did not the Presses himself most kindly and oft reprimand me" ? 

Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 98. 
— the good old Prceses cries, 
While the tears stand in his eyes, 
" You have passed and are classed 
With the boys of ' Twenty-Nine.' " 

Knick. Mag., Vol. XLV. p. 195. 

PRAYERS. In colleges and universities, the religious exer- 
cises performed in the chapel at morning and evening, at 
which all the students are required to attend. 

These exercises in some institutions were formerly much 
more extended than at present, and must on some occasions 
have been very onerous. Mr. Quincy, in his History of 
Harvard University, writing in relation to the customs which 
were prevalent in the College at the beginning of the last 
century, says on this subject: "Previous to the accession of 
Leverett to the Presidency, the practice of obliging the un- 
dergraduates to read portions of the Scripture from Latin 
or English into Greek, at morning and evening service, had 



AND CUSTOMS. 361 

been discontinued. But in January and May, 1708, this 
* ancient and laudable practice was revived ' by the Corpo- 
ration. At morning prayers all the undergraduates were 
ordered, beginning with the youngest, to read a verse out of 
the Old Testament from the Hebrew into Greek, except the 
Freshmen, who were permitted to use their EngUsh Bibles 
in this exercise ; and at evening service, to read from the 
New Testament out of the English or Latin translation into 
Greek, whenever the President performed this service in the 
Hall." In less than twenty years after the revival of these 
exercises, they were again discontinued. The following was 
then established as the order of morning and evening wor- 
ship : " The morning service began with a short prayer ; 
then a chapter of the Old Testament was read, which the 
President expounded, and concluded with prayer. The even- 
ing service was the same, except that the chapter read was 
from the New Testament, and on Saturday a psalm was sung 
in the Hall. On Sunday, exposition was omitted ; a psalm 
was sung morning and evening ; and one of the scholars, in 
course, was called upon to repeat, in the evening, the sermons 
preached on that day." — Vol. I. pp. 439, 440. 

The custom of singing at prayers on Sunday evening con- 
tinued for many years. In a manuscript journal kept during 
the year 1793, notices to the following effect frequently occur. 
" Feb. 24th, Sunday. The singing club performed Man's 
Victory, at evening prayers." " Sund. April 14th, P. M. 
At prayers the club performed Brandon." " May 19th, Sab- 
bath, P. M. At prayers the club performed Holden's De- 
scend ye nine, etc." Soon after this, prayers were discon- 
tinued on Sunday evenings. 

The President was required to officiate at prayers, but 
when unable to attend, the office devolved on one of the 
Tutors, " they taking their turns by course weekly." When- 
ever they performed this duty " for any considerable time," 
they were " suitably rewarded for their service." In one 
instance, in 1794, all the officers being absent, Mr., afterwards 
Prof. McKean, then an undergraduate, performed the duties 
31 



362 COLLEGE \Y0RD3 

of chaplain. In the journal above referred to, under date 
of Feb. 22, 1793, is this note : " At prayers, I declaimed 
in Latin " ; which would seem to show, that this season was 
sometimes made the occasion for exercises of a literary as 
well as religious character. 

In a late work by Professor Sidney Willard, he says of 
his father, who was President of Harvard College : " In the 
early period of his Presidency, Mr. Willard not unfrequently 
delivered a sermon at evening prayers on Sunday. In the 
year 1794, I remember he preached once or twice on that 
evening, but in the next year and onward he discontinued the 
service. His predecessor used to expound passages of Scrip- 
ture as a part of the religious service. These expositions 
are frequently spoken of in the diary of Mr. Caleb Gannett 
when he was a Tutor. On Saturday evening and Sunday 
morning and evening, generally the College choir sang a 
hymn or an anthem. When these Sunday services were ob- 
served in the Chapel, the Faculty and students worshipped 
on Lord's day, at the stated hours of meeting, in the Congre- 
gational or the Episcopal Church." — Memories of Youth and 
Manhood, Vol. L pp. 137, 138. 

At Yale College, one of the earliest laws ordains that " all 
undergraduates shall pubUcly repeat sermons in the hall in 
their course, and also bachelors ; and be constantly examined 
on Sabbaths [at] evening prayer." — Pres. Woohey^s Dis- 
course, p. 59. 

Prayers at this institution were at one period regulated 
by the following rule. " The President, or in his Absence, 
one of the Tutors in their Turn, shall constantly pray in the 
Chapel every Morning and Evening, and read a Chapter, or 
some suitable Portion of Scripture, unless a Sermon, or some 
Theological Discourse shall then be delivered. And every 
Member of College is obliged to attend, upon the Penalty of 
one Penny for every Instance of Absence, without a sufficient 
Reason, and a half Penny for being tardy, i. e. when any one 
shall come in after the President, or go out before him. — 
Laivs Tale Coll, 1774, p. 5. 



AND CUSTOMS. 363 

A writer in the American Literary Magazine, in noticing 
some of the evils connected with the American college sys- 
tem, describes very truthfully, in the following question, a 
scene not at all novel in student life. " But when the young 
man is compelled to rise at an unusually early hour to attend 
public prayers, under all kinds of disagreeable circumstances ; 
when he rushes into the chapel breathless, v/ith wet feet, half 
dressed, and with the prospect of a recitation immediately to 
succeed the devotions, — is it not natural that he should be 
listless, or drowsy, or excited about his recitation, during the 
whole sacred exercise ? " — Vol. IV. p. 517. 

This season formerly afforded an excellent opportunity, for 
those who were so disposed, to play off practical jokes on the 
person officiating. On one occasion, at one of our colleges, a 
goose was tied to the desk by some of the students, intended 
as emblematic of the person who was accustomed to occupy 
that place. But the laugh was artfully turned upon them by 
the minister, who, seeing the bird with his head directed to 
the audience, remarked, that he perceived the young gentle- 
men were for once provided with a parson admirably suited 
to their capacities, and with these words left them to swallow 
his well-timed sarcasm. On another occasion, a ram was 
placed in the pulpit, with his head turned to the door by 
which the minister usually entered. On opening the door, 
the animal, diving between the legs of the fat shepherd, bolt- 
ed down the pulpit stairs, carrying on his back the sacred 
load, and with it rushed out of the chapel, leaving the assem- 
blage to indulge in the reflections excited by the expressive 
looks of the astonished beast, and of his more astonished 
rider. 

The Bible was often kept covered, when not in use, with a 
cloth. It was formerly a very common trick to place under 
this cloth a pewter plate obtained from the commons hall, 
which the minister, on uncovering, would, if he were a shrewd 
man, quietly slide under the desk, and proceed as usual with 
the exercises. 

At Harvard College, about the year 1785, two Indian im- 



364 COLLEGE WORDS 

ages were missing from their accustomed place on the top of 
the gate-posts which stood in front of the dweUing of a gen- 
tleman of Cambridge. At the same time the Bible was 
taken from the Chapel, and another, which was purchased to 
supply its place, soon followed it, no one knew where. One 
day, as a tutor was passing by the room of a student, hearing 
within an uncommonly loud noise, he entered, as was his 
right and office. There stood the occupant, * holding in his 
hands one of the Chapel Bibles, .while before him on the table 
were placed the images, to which he appeared to be reading, 
but in reality was vociferating all kinds of senseless gibberish. 
" What is the meaning of this noise ? " inquired the tutor in 
great anger. " Propagating the Gospel among the Indians, 
Su"," replied the student calmly. 

While Professor Ashur Ware was a tutor in Harvard Col- 
lege, he in his turn, when the President was absent, officiated 
at prayers. Inclined to be longer in his devotions than was 
thought necessary by the students, they were often on such 
occasions seized with violent fits of sneezing, which generally 
made themselves audible in the word "A-a-shur," "A-a- 
shur." 

The following lines, written by William C. Bradley when 
an undergraduate at Harvard College, cannot fail to be ap- 
preciated by those who have been cognizant of similar scenes 
and sentiments in their own experience of student life. 

" Hark ! the morning Bell is pealing 

Faintly on the drowsy ear, 
Far abroad the tidings deahng, 

Now the hour of prayer is near. 
To the pious Sons of Harvard, 

Starting from the land of Nod, 
Loudly comes the rousing summons, 

Let us run and worship God. 

" 'T is the hour for deep contrition, 
'T is the hour for peaceful thought, 

* Jonathan Leonard, who afterwards graduated in the class of 1786. 



AND CUSTOMS. 365 

'Tis the hour to win the blessing 

In the early stillness sought ; 
Kneeling in the quiet chamber, 

On the deck, or on the sod. 
In the still and early morning, 

'T is the hour to worship God. 

" But don't you stop to pray in secret, 

No time for you to worship there. 
The hour approaches, ' Tempus fugit,' 

Tear your shirt or miss a prayer. 
Don't stop to wash, don't stop to button. 

Go the ways your fathers trod ; 
Leg it, put it, rush it, streak it. 

Run and worship God. 

" On the staircase, stamping, tramping. 

Bounding, sounding, down you go ; 
Jumping, bumping, crashing, smashing. 

Jarring, bruising, heel and toe. 
See your comrades far before you 

Through the open door-way jam, 
Heaven and earth ! the bell is stopping ! 

Now it dies in silence d n ! " 

PRELECTION. Latin, prcelectio. A lecture or discourse 
read in public or to a select company. 

Further explained by Dr. Popkin : " In the introductory- 
schools, I think, Prelections were given bjy the teachers to the 
learners. According to the meaning of the word, the Pre- 
ceptor went before, as I suppose, and explained and probably 
interpreted the lesson or lection ; and the scholar was required 
to receive it in memory, or in notes, and in due time to ren- 
der it in recitation." — Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D., 
p. 19. 
PRELECTOE. Latin, prcelector. One who reads an author 
to others and adds explanations ; a reader ; a lecturer. 

Their so famous a prelectour doth teach. — Sheldon, Mir. of Anti- 
Christ, p. 38. 
If his reproof be private, or with the cathedrated authority of 
31* 



366 COLLEGE WORDS 

a proBlector or public reader. — Whitlock, Mann, of the English^ 
p. 385. 

2. Same as' Father, which see. 

PREPOSITOR. Latin. A scholar appointed by the master 
to overlook the rest. 

And when requested for the salt-cellar, I handed it with as much 
trepidation as a prcBposter gives the Doctor a list, when he is con- 
scious of a mistake in the excuses. — The Etonian^ Vol. II. p. 281. 

PRESENTATION DAY. At Yale College, Presentation 
Day is the time when the Senior Class, having finished the 
prescribed course of study, and passed a satisfactory exami- 
nation, are presented by the examiners to the President, as 
properly qualified to be admitted to the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts. A distinguished professor of the institution where this 
day is observed has kindly furnished the following interesting 
historical account of this observance. 

" This presentation," he writes, " is a ceremony of long 
standing. It has certainly existed for more than a century. 
It is very early alluded to, not as a novelty, but as an estab- 
lished custom. There is now less formality on such occa- 
sions, but the substantial parts of the exercises are retained. 
The examination is now begun on Saturday and finished on 
Tuesday, and the day after, Wednesday, six weeks before the 
public Commencement, is the day of Presentation. There 
have sometimes been literary exercises on that day by one or 
more of the candidates, and sometimes they have been omit- 
ted. I have in my possession a Latin Oration, what, I sup- 
pose, was called a GliosopJiic Oration, pronounced by William 
Samuel Johnson in 1744, at the presentation of his class. 
Sometimes a member of the class exhibited an English Ora- 
tion, which was responded to by some one of the College 
Faculty, generally by one who had been the principal in- 
structor of the class presented. A case of this kind occurred 
in 1776, when Mr., afterwards President D wight, responded 
to the class orator in an address, which, being delivered the 
same July in which Independence was declared, drew, from 
its patriotic allusions, as well as for other reasons, unusual 



AND CUSTOMS. 367 

attention. It was published, — a rare thing at that period. 
Another response was delivered in 1796, by J. Stebbins, 
Tutor, which was likewise published. There has been no 
exhibition of the kind since. For a few years past, there 
have been an oration and a poem exhibited by members of 
the graduating class, at the time of presentation. The ap- 
pointments for these exercises are made by the class. 

" So much of an exhibition as there was at the presentation 
in 1778 has not been usual. More was then done, probably, 
from the fact, that for several years, during the Revolutionary 
war, there was no pubhc Commencement. Perhaps it should 
be added, that, so far back as my information extends, after the 
hterary exercises of Presentation Day, there has always been 
a dinner, or collation, at which the College Faculty, grad- 
uates, invited guests, and the Senior Class have been pres- 
ent." 

A graduate of the present year * writes more particularly 
in relation to the observances of the day at the present time. 
" In the morning the Senior Class are met in one of the lec- 
ture-rooms by the chairman of the Faculty and the senior 
Tutor. The latter reads the names of those who have passed 
a satisfactory examination, and are to be recommended for 
degrees. The Class then adjourn to the College Chapel, 
where the President and some of the Professors are waiting 
to receive them. The senior Tutor reads the names as 
before, after which Professor Kingsley recommends the 
Class to the President and Faculty for the degree of B. A., 
in a Latin discourse. The President then responds in 
the same tongue, and addresses a few words of counsel to the 
Class. 

" These exercises are followed by the Poem and Oration, 
delivered by members of the Class chosen for these offices 
by the Class. Then comes the dinner, given in one of the 
lecture-rooms. After this the Class meet in the College 
yard, and spend the afternoon in smoking (the old clay pipe 

* 1851. 



368 COLLEGE WORDS 

is used, but no cigars) and singing. Thus ends tlie active 
life of our college days." 

" Presentation Day," says the writer of the preface to the 
" Songs of Yale," " is the sixth "Wednesday of the Summer 
Term, when the graduating Class, after having passed their 
second * Biennial,' are presented to the President as qualified 
for the first degree, or the B. A. After this ' presentation,' 
a farewell oration and poem are pronounced by members of 
the Class, previously elected by their classmates for the pur- 
pose. After a public dinner, they seat themselves under the 
elms before the College, and smoke and sing for the last time 
together. Each has his pipe, and ' they who never ' smoked 
* before ' now smoke, or seem to. The exercises are closed 
with a procession about the buildings, bidding each farewell." 
1853, p. 4. 

This last smoke is referred to in the following lines : — 

" Green elms are waving o'er us, 
Green grass beneath our feet, 
The ring is round, and on the ground 
We sit a class complete." 

Presentation Dmj Songs, June 14, 1854. 
" It is a very jolly thing, 
Our sitting down in this great ring, 
To smoke our pipes and loudly sing. — Ibid. 

Pleasant reference is had to some of the more modern 
features of Presentation Day, in the annexed extract from 
the " Yale Literary Magazine " : — 

" There is one spot where the elms stretch their long arms, 
not 'in quest of thought,' but as though they would afford 
their friendly shade to make pleasant the last scene of the 
academic life. Seated in a circle in this place, which has 
been so often trampled by the ' stag-dance ' of preceding 
classes, and made hallowed by associations w^hich will cling 
around such places, are the present graduates. They have 
met together for the last time as a body, for they will not all 
be present at the closing ceremony of Commencement, nor all 
answer to the muster in the future Class reunions. It is hard 



AND CUSTOMS. 369 

to tell whether such a ceremony should be sad or joyous, for, 
despite the boisterous merriment and exuberance which arises 
from the prospect of freedom, there is something tender in 
the thought of meeting for the last time, to break strong ties, 
and lose individuality as a Class for ever. 

" In the centre of the circle are the Class band, with horns, 
flutes, and vioHns, braying, piping, or saw-filing, at the option 
of the owners, — toot, — toot, — bum, — bang, — boo-o-o, — in 
a most melodious discord. Songs are distributed, pipes filled, 
and the smoke cloud rises, trembles as the chorus of a 
hundred voices rings out in a merry cadence, and then, break- 
ing, soars off, — a fit emblem of the separation of those at 
whose parting it received its birth. 

" ^ Braxton on the history of the Class ! ' 
" ' The Class history ! — Braxton ! — Braxton ! ' 
" ' In a moment, gentlemen,' — and our hero mounts upon 
a cask, and proceeds to give in burlesque a description of 
Class exploits and the wonderful success of its early grad- 
uates. Speeches follow, and the joke, and song, till the 
lengthening shadows bring a warning, and a preparation for 
the final ceremony. The ring is spread out, the last pipes 
smoked in College laid down, and the ' stag-dance,' with its 
rush, and their destruction ended. Again the ring forms, 
and ea«h classmate moves around it to grasp each hand for 
the last time, and exchange a parting blessing. 

" The band strike up, and the long procession march around 
the College, plant their ivy, and return to cheer the build- 
ings." — Vol. XX. p. 228. 

The following song was written by Francis Miles Finch of 
the class of 1849, for the Presentation Day of that year. 
" Gather ye smiles from the ocean isles, 
Warm hearts from river and fountain, 
A playful chime from the palm-tree clime, 
From the land of rock and mountain : 
And roll the song in waves along, 

For the hours are bright before us, 
And grand and hale are the elms of Yale, 
Like fathers, bending o'er us. 



370 COLLEGE WOEDS 

" Summon our band from the prairie land, 
From the granite hills, dark frowning. 
From the lakelet blue, and the black bayou. 
From the snows our pine peaks crowning ; 
And pour the song in joy along. 

For the hours are bright before us. 
And grand and hale are the towers of Yale, 
Like giants, watching o'er us. 

" Count not the tears of the long-gone years, 
With their moments of pain and sorrow. 
But laugh in the light of their memories bright, 
And treasure them all for the morrow ; 
Then roll the song in waves along. 

While the hours are bright before us. 
And high and hale are the spires of Yale, 
Like guardians, towering o'er us. 

" Dream of the days when the rainbow rays 

Of Hope on our hearts fell lightly. 

And each fair hour some cheerful flower 

In our pathway blossomed brightly ; 

And pour the song in joy along. 

Ere the moments fly before us. 
While portly and hale the sires of Yale 
Are kindly gazing o'er us. 

••' Linger again in memory's glen, 

'Mid the tendrilled vines of feeling. 
Till a voice or a sigh floats softly by. 
Once more to the glad heart stealing ; 
And roll the song on waves along. 

For the hours are bright before us, 
And in cottage and vale are the brides of Yale, 
Like angels, watching o'er us. 

" Clasp ye the hand 'neath the arches grand 
That with garlands span our greeting. 
With a silent prayer that an hour as fair 
May smile on each after meeting ; 
t V- »v J ( And long may the song, the joyous song, 

' :: " Roll on in the hours before us. 

And grand and hale may the elms of Yale, 
For many a year, bend o'er us." 



AND CUSTOMS. 371 

In the Appendix to President Woolsey's Historical Dis- 
course delivered before the Graduates of Yale College, is the 
following account of Presentation Day, in 1778. 

" The Professor of Divinity, two ministers of the town, 
and another minister, having accompanied me to the Library 
about 1, P. M., the middle Tutor waited upon me there, and 
informed me that the examination was finished, and they 
were ready for the presentation. I gave leave, being seated 
in the Library between the above ministers. Hereupon the 
examiners, preceded by the Professor of Mathematics, entered 
the Library, and introduced thirty candidates, a beautiful sight ! 
The Diploma Examinatorium, with the return and minutes 
inscribed upon it, was delivered to the President, who gave 
it to the Vice-Bedellus, directing him to read it. He read it 
and returned it to the President, to be deposited among the 
College archives in perpetuam rei memoriam. The senior 
Tutor thereupon made a very eloquent Latin speech, and 
presented the candidates for the honors of the College. This 
presentation the President in a Latin speech accepted, and 
addressed the gentlemen examiners and the candidates, and 
gave the latter liberty to return home till Commencement. 
Then dismissed. 

" At about 3, P. M., the afternoon exercises were appointed 
to begin. At 3 J, the bell tolled, and the assembly convened 
in the chapel, ladies and gentlemen. The President intro- 
duced the exercises in a Latin speech, and then delivered the 
Diploma Examinatorium to the Vice-Bedellus, who, standing 
on the pulpit stairs, read it publicly. Then succeeded, — 

Cliosophic Oration in Latin, by Sir Meigs. 

Poetical Composition in English, by Sir Barlow, 
r Sir Miller, 

Dialogue, English, by < Sir Chaplin, 
( Sir Ely. 

Cliosophic Oration, English, by Sir Webster. 
C Sir Wolcott, 

Disputation, English, by < Sir Swift, 
I Sir Smith. 



372 COLLEGE WORDS 

Valedictory Oration, English, by Sir Tracy. 
An Anthem. Exercises two hours." — p. 121. 

PRESIDENT. In the United States, the chief officer of a 
college or university. His duties are, to preside at the meet- 
ings of the Faculty, at Exhibitions and Commencements, to 
sign the diplomas or letters of degree, to carry on the official 
correspondence, to address counsel and instruction to the stu- 
dents, and to exercise a general superintendence in the affiiirs 
of the college over which he presides. 

At Harvard College it was formerly the duty of the Pres- 
ident " to inspect the manners of the students, and unto his 
morning and evening prayers to join some exposition of the 
chapters which they read from Hebrew into Greek, from 
the Old Testament, in the morning, and out of English into 
Greek, from the New Testament, in the evening." At the 
same College, in the early part of the last century, Mr. 
Wadsworth, the President, states, "that he expounded the 
Scriptures, once eleven, and sometimes eight or nine times 
in the course of a week." — Haw. Reg.^ p. 249, and Quincy's 
Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 440. 

Similar duties were formerly required of the President at 
other American colleges. In some, at the present day, he 
performs the duties of a professor in connection with those 
of his own office, and presides at the daily religious exer- 
cises in the Chapel. 

The title of President is given to the chief officer in some 
of the colleges of the English universities. 

PRESIDENT'S CHAIR. At Harvard College, there is in 
the Library an antique chair, venerable by age and associa- 
tion, which is used only on Commencement Day, when it is 
occupied by the President while engaged in delivering the 
diplomas for degrees. " Vague report," says Quincy, " rep- 
resents it to have been brought to the College during the 
presidency of Holyoke, as the gift of the Rev. Ebenezer 
Turell of Medford (the author of the Life of Dr. Colman). 
Turell was connected by marriage with the Mathers, by 



AND CUSTOMS. 373 

some of whom it is said to have been brought from Eng- 
land." Holyoke was President from 1737 to 1769. The 
round knobs on the chair were turned by President Holyoke, 
and attached to it by his own hands. In the picture of this 
honored gentleman, belonging to the College, he is painted in 
the old chair, which seems peculiai^ly adapted by its strength 
to support the weight which fills it. 

Before the erection of Gore Hall, the present library 
building, the books of the College were kept in Harvard 
Hall. In the same building, also, was the Philosophy 
Chamber, where the chair usually stood for the inspection 
of the curious. Over this domain, from the year 1793 to 
1800, presided Mr. Samuel Shapleigh, the Librarian. He 
was a dapper little bachelor, very active and remarkably 
attentive to the ladies who visited the Library, especially 
the younger portion of them. When ushered into the room 
where stood the old chair, he would watch them with eager 
eyes, and, as soon as one, prompted by a deske of being- 
able to say, " I have sat in the President's Chair," took this 
seat, rubbing his hands together, he would exclaim, in great 
glee, " A forfeit ! a forfeit ! " and demand from the fair 
occupant a kiss, a fee which, whether refused or not, he very 
seldom failed to obtain.* 

This custom, which seems now-a-days to be going out of 
fashion, is mentioned by ]Mr. WiUiam Biglow, in a poem 
before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, recited in their dining- 



* William A. Barron, who was graduated in 1787, and was tutor from 

1793 to 1800, was " among his contemporaries in office social and 

playful, fond of hon-mots, conundi-ums, and puns." Walking one day 
with Shapleigh and another gentleman, the conversation happened to 
turn upon the birthplace of Shapleigh, who was always boasting that 
two to^v^ls claimed him as their citizen, as the towns, cities, and islands 
of Greece claimed Homer as a native. Barron, with all the good humor 
imaginable, put an end to the conversation by the following epigram- 
matic impromptu : — 

" Kittery and York for Shapleigh's birth contest ; 
Kittery won the prize, but York came off the best." 
32 



374 COLLEGE WORDS 

hall, August 29, 1811. Speaking of Commencement Day 

and its observances, lie says : — 

"Now young gallants allure their favorite fair 
To take a seat in Presidential chair ; 
Then seize the long-accustomed fee, the bliss 
Of the half ravished, half free-granted kiss." 

The editor of Mr. Peirce's History of Harvard University 
publishes the following curious extracts from Horace Wal- 
pole's Private Correspondence, giving a description of some 
antique chairs found m England, exactly of the same con- 
struction with the College chair ; a circumstance which cor- 
roborates the supposition that this also was brought from 
England. 

Horace Walpole to George Montagu, Esq. 

" Strawberry Hill, August 20, 1761. 

" Dickey Bateman has picked up a whole cloister fuU of old 
chairs in Herefordshire. He bought them one by one, here and 
there in farm-houses, for three and sixpence and a crown apiece. 
They are of wood, the seats triangular, the backs, arms, and legs 
loaded with turnery. A thousand to one but there are plenty up 
and down Cheshire, too. If Mr. and Mrs. AVetenhall, as they ride 
or drive out, would now and then pick up such a chair, it would 
oblige me greatly. Take notice, no two need be of the same pat- 
tern." — Private Correspondence of Horace Walpole, Earl of Or- 
ford, Vol. n. p. 279. 

Horace Walpole to the Key. Mr. Cole. 

" Straioherry Hill, March 9, 1765. 
" When you go into Cheshire, and upon your ramble, may I 
trouble you with a commission ? but about which you must promise 
me not to go a step out of your way. Mr. Bateman has got a 
cloister at old Windsor furnished with ancient wooden chairs, most 
of them triangular, but all of various patterns, and carved and 
turned in the most uncouth and whimsical forms. He picked them 
up one by one, for two, three, five, or six shilhngs apiece, from 
different farm-houses in Herefordshire. I have long envied and 
coveted them. There may be such in poor cottages in so neigh- 
boring a county as Cheshire. I should not grudge any expense for 
purchase or carriage, and should be glad even of a couple such for 



AND CUSTOMS. 375 

my cloister here. When you are copying inscriptions in a church- 
yard in any village, think of me, and step into the first cottage you 
see, but don't take further trouble than that." — i&id, Vol. III. 
pp. 23, 24, from Peirce's Hist Harv. Univ., p. 312. 

An engraving of the chair is to be found in President 
Quincy's History of Harvard University, Vol. I. p. 288. 

PREVARICATOR. A sort of an occasional orator; an 
academical phrase in the University of Cambridge, Eng. — 
Johnson. 

He should not need have pursued me through the various shapes 
of a divine, a doctor, a head of a college, a professor, a prevaricator, 
a mathematician. — Bp. Wren, Monarchy Asserted, Pref. 

It would have made you smile to hear the prevaricator, in his joc- 
ular way, give him his title and character to face. — A. Philips^ 
Life ofAbp. Williams, p. 34. 

See Terrj]:-Filius. 

PREVIOUS EXAMINATION. In the English universities, 
the University examination in the second year. 
Called also the Little-Go. 

The only practical connection that the Undergi-aduate usually 
has with the University, in its corporate capacity, consists in his 
•previous examination, alias the " Little-Go," and his final examina- 
tion for a degree, with or without honors. — Bristed's Five Years 
in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 10. 

PREX. A cant term for President. 

After examination, I went to the old Prex, and was admitted. 
Prex, by the way, is the same as President. — Tlie Dartmouth, 
Vol. IV. p. 117. 

But take a peep with us, dear reader, into that sanctum sancto- 
rum, that skull and bones of college mysteries, the Prex's room. — 
Tlie Yale Banger, Nov. 10, 1846. 

Good old Prex used to get the students together and advise them 
on keeping their faces clean, and blacking their boots, &c. — Am- 
herst Indicator, Voh HI. p. 228. 

PRINCE'S STUFF. In the English universities, the fabric 
of which the gowns of the undergraduates are usually made. 



376 COLLEGE WOEDS 

[Their] every-day habit differs nothing as far as the gown is con- 
cerned, it being prince's stuff, or other convenient material. — 
Oxford Guide, Ed. 1847, p. xv. 

See Costume. 
PEINCIPAL. At Oxford, the president of a college or hall 

is sometimes styled the Principal. — Oxf. Col. 
PRIVAT DO CENT. In German universities, a private 
teacher. " The so-called Privat Docenten" remarks Howitt, 
"are gentlemen who devote themselves to an academical 
career, who have taken the degree of Doctor, and through a 
public disputation have acquired the right to deliver lectures 
on subjects connected with their particular department of 
science. They receive no salary, but depend upon the re- 
muneration derived from their classes." — Student Life of 
Germany, Am. ed., p. 29. 
PRLVATE. At Harvard College, one of the milder punish- 
ments is what is called private admonition, by which a de- 
duction of thirty-two marks is made from the rank of the 
offender. So called in contradistinction to public admonition, 
when a deduction is made, and with it a letter is sent to the 
parent. Often abbreviated into private. 

Reckon on the fingers of your mind the reprimands, deductions, 
parietals, and privates in store for you." — Oration before H. L. of 
I. 0. of 0. R, 1848. 

What are parietals, parts, privates now. 
To the stni calmness of that placid brow ? 

Class Poem, Harv. Coll., 1849. 
PRIVATISSIMUM,^/. PRIVATISSIMI. Literally, most 
private. In the German universities, an especially private 
lecture. 

To these Privatissimi, as they are called, or especially private 
lectures, being once agreed upon, no other auditors can be ad- 
mitted. — Howitfs Student Life of Germany, Am. ed., p. 35. 
Then my Privatissimum — (I 've been thinking on it 
For a long time — and in fact begun it) — 
Will cost me 20 Bix-dollars more, 
Please send with the ducats I mentioned before. 

The Jobsiad, in Lit. World, Vol. IX. p. 281. 



AND CUSTOMS. 377 

The use of a Privatissimum I can't conjecture, 
When one is already ten hours at lecture. 

Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 448. 

PRIZEMAN. In universities and colleges, one who takes a 
prize. 

The Wrangler's glory in his -well-earned fame, 

The prizeman's triumph, and the plucked man's shame. 

TJie College, in Blackwood's Mag., May, 1849. 

PROBATION. In colleges and universities, the examination 
of a student as to his qualifications for a degree. 

2. The time which a student passes in college from the 
period of entering until he is matriculated and received as a 
member in full standing. In American colleges, this is usually 
six months, but can be prolonged at discretion. — Coll. Laws. 

PROCEED. To take a degree. Mr. Halliwell, in his Dic- 
tionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, says, " This term 
is stiU used at the Enghsh miiversities." It is sometimes 
used in American colleges. 

In 1605 he proceeded Master of Arts, and became celebrated as 
a wit and a poet. — Poems of Bishop Corbet, p. ix. 

They that expect to proceed Bachelors that year, to be examined 

of their sufficiency, and such that expect to proceed Masters 

of Arts, to exhibit their synopsis of acts. 

They, that are approved sufficient for their degrees, shall proceed. 
— Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 518. 

The Overseers recommended to the Corporation "to 

take effectual measures to prevent those who proceeded Bachelors 
of Arts, from having entertainments of any kind." — Ibid., Vol. II. 
p. 93. 

When he proceeded Bachelor of Arts, he was esteemed one of the 
most perfect scholars that had ever received the honors of this 
seminary. — Holmes's Life of Ezra Stiles, p. 14. 

Masters may proceed Bachelors in either of the Faculties, at the 
end of seven years, &c. — Calendar Trin. Coll., 1850, p. 10. 

Of the surviving graduates, the o\d.QS,t proceeded Bachelor of Arts 
the very Commencement at which Dr. Stiles was elected to the 
Presidency. — Woolsey's Discourse, Yale Coll., Aug. 14, 1850, 
p. 38. 

32* 



378 COLLEGE WORDS 

PROCTOR. Contracted from the TiBim procuratoVf from pro- 
euro ; pro and euro. 

In the University of Cambridge, Eng., two proctors are 
annually elected, who are peace-officers. It is their especial 
duty to attend to the discipline and behavior of all persons 
in statu pupillari, to search houses of ill-fame, and to take 
into custody women of loose and abandoned character, and 
even those de malo suspectce. Their other duties are not so 
menial in their character, and are different in different uni- 
versities. — Gam. Gal. 

At Oxford, " the proctors act as university magistrates ; 
they are appointed from each college in rotation, and remain 
in office two years. They nominate four pro-proctors to 
assist them. Their chief duty, in which they are known to 
undergraduates, is to preserve order, and keep the town free 
from improper characters. When they go out in the evening, 
they are usually attended by two servants, called by the 

gownsmen bull-dogs The marshal, a chief officer, is 

usually in attendance on one of the proctors It is 

also the proctor's duty to take care that the cap and gowii 
are worn in the University." — The GollegiarCs Guide, Oxford, 
pp. 176, 177. 

At Oxford, the proctors "jointly have, as has the Vice- 
Chancellor singly, the power of interposing their veto or non 
placet, upon all questions in congregation and convocation, 
which puts a stop at once to all further proceedings in the 
matter. These are the ' censores morum ' of the University, 
and their business is to see that the undergraduate members, 
when no longer under the ken of the head or tutors of their 
own college, behave seemly when mixing with the townsmen, 
and restrict themselves, as far as may be, to lawful or consti- 
tutional and harmless amusements. Their powers extend 
over a circumference of three miles round the walls of the 
city. The proctors are easily recognized by their full dress 
gown of velvet sleeves, and bands-encircled neck." — Oxford 
Guide, Ed. 1847, p. xiii. 

At Oxford, " the two proctors were formerly nearly equal 



^ I Abbreviated for Professor. 



AND CUSTOMS. 379 

in importance to the Vice- Chancellor. Their powers, though 
diminished, are still considerable, as they administer the 
police of the University, appoint the Examiners, and have a 
joint veto on all measures brought before Convocation." — 
Lit. World, Vol. XII. p. 223. 

The class of officers called Proctors was instituted at Har- 
vard College in the year 1805, their duty being "to reside 
constantly and preserve order within the walls," to preserve 
order among the students, to see that the laws of the College 
are enforced, " and to exercise the same inspection and au- 
thority in their particular district, and throughout College, 
which it is the duty of a parietal Tutor to exercise therein." 
— Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. XL p. 292. 

I believe this is the only college in the United States where 
this class of academical police officers is established. 
PROF, 
PROFF. 

The Proff thought he knew too much to stay here, and so he 
- went his way, and I saw him no more. — The Dartmouth, Vol. IV. 
p. 116. 

For Proffs and Tutors too, 
Who steer our big canoe, 
Prepare their lays. 

Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. III. p. 144. 

PROFESSOR. One that publicly teaches any science or 
branch of learning; particularly, an officer in a university, 
college, or other seminary, whose business is to read lectures 
or instruct students in a particular branch of learning ; as a 
professor of theology or mathematics. — Webster. 

PROFESSORIATE. The office or employment of a professor. 
It is desirable to restore the professoriate. — Lit. World, Vol. 
XII. p. 246. 

PROFESSOR OF DUST AND ASHES. A title some- 
times jocosely given by students to the person who has the 
care of their rooms. 

Was interrupted a moment just now, by the entrance of Mr. 
C , the gentleman who makes the beds, sweeps, takes up the 



380 COLLEGE WORDS 

asheSj and supports the dignity of the title, " Professor of Dust and 
Ashes." — Sketches of Williams College, p. 77. 

The South College Prof of Dust and Ashes has a huge bill 
against the Society. — Yale Tomahawk, Feb. 1851. 

PROFICIENT. The degree of Proficient is conferred in the 
University of Virginia, in a certificate of proficiency, on 
those who have studied only in certain branches taught in 
some of the schools connected with that institution. 
PRO MERITIS. Latin; literally, /or ^ww2mY5. A phrase 
customarily used in American collegiate diplomas. 
Then, eveiy crime atoned with ease. 
Pro meriiis, received degrees. 

Trumbull's Progress of Dullness, Part I. 

PRO-PROCTOR. In the English universities, an officer ap- 
pointed to assist the proctors in that part of their duty only 
which relates to the discipline and behavior of those persons 
who are in static pupillari. — 0am. and Oxf, Gals. 

More familiarly, these officers, are called pro's. 

They [the proctors] are assisted in their duties by four pro-proc- 
tors, each principal being allowed to nominate his two '■^ pro's." — 
Oxford Guide, 1847, p. xiii. 

The pro's have also a strip of velvet on each side of the gown- 
front, and wear bands. — lUd., p. xiii. 

PRO-VICE-CHANCELLOR. In the English universities, 
a deputy appointed by the Vice- Chancellor, who exercises his 
power in case of his illness or necessary absence. 

PROVOST. The President of a college. 

Dr. Jay, on his arrival in England, found there Dr. Smith, Pro- 
vost of the College in Philadelphia, soliciting aid for that institution. 
— Hist. Sketch of Columbia Coll., p. 36. 

At Columbia College, in 1811, an officer was appointed, styled 
Provost, who, in absence of the President, was to supply his place, 
and who, " besides exercising the like general superintendence 
with the President," was to conduct the classical studies of the Sen- 
ior Class. The office of Provost continued until 1816, when the 
Trustees determined that its powers and duties should devolve upon 
the President. — lUd., p. 81. 



AND CUSTOMS. 381 

At Oxford, the chief officer of some of the colleges bears 
this title. At Cambridge, it is appropriated solely to the 
President of King's College. " On the choice of a Provost," 
says the author of a History of the University of Cambridge, 
1753, " the Fellows are all shut into the ante-chapel, and out 
of which they are not permitted to stir on any account, nor 
none permitted to enter, till they have all agreed on their 
man ; which agreement sometimes takes up several days ; 
and, if I remember right, they were three days and nights 
confined in choosing the present Provost, and had their beds, 
close-stools, &c. with them, and their commons, &c. given 
them in at the windows." — Grad. ad Cantab.^ p. 85. 

PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE. In Yale College, a com- 
mittee to whom the discretionary concerns of the College 
are intrusted. They order such repairs of the College 
buildings as are necessary, audit the accounts of the Treas- 
urer and Steward, make the annual report of the state of the 
College, superintend the investment of the College funds, in- 
stitute suits for the recovery and preservation of the College 
property, and perform various other duties which are enu- 
merated in the laws of Yale College. 

At Middlebury College, similar powers are given to a body 
bearing the same name. — Laws Mid. Coll., 1839, pp. 4, 5. 

PUBLIC. At Harvard College, -the punishment next higher 
in order to 2^. private admonition is called 2ipid)lic admonition, 
and consists in a deduction of sixty-four marks from the rank 
of the offender, accompanied by a letter to the parent or 
guardian. It is often called a public. 

See Admonition, and Phivate. 
PUBLIC DAY. In the University of Virginia, the day on 
which " the certificates and diplomas are awarded to the suc- 
cessful candidates, the results of the examinations are an- 
nounced, and addresses are delivered by one or more of the 
Bachelors and Masters of Arts, and by the Orator appointed 
by the Society of the Alumni." — Gat. of Univ. of Virginia, 

This occurs on the closing day of the session, the 29th of June. 



382 COLLEGE WORDS 

PUBLIC ORATOR. Iq the English universities, an officer 
who is the voice of the university on all public occasions, 
who writes, reads, and records all letters of a public nature, 
and presents, with an appropriate address, those on whom 
honorary degrees are conferred. At Cambridge, this is 
esteemed one of the most honorable offices in the gift of the 
university. — Gam. and Oxf. Cats. 

PUMP. Among German students, to obtain or take on credit ; 

to sponge. 

Unt) {)(Xt bev «Biti-fcl; fciit @elt> im S3eute(, 
®o ^u m}) t ei- Me gjljitij^ev an. 

Crambambuli Song. 

PUNY. A young, inexperienced person ; a novice. 

Freshmen at Oxford were called punies of the first year. — Hal- 
liwelVs Diet. Arch, and Prov. Words. 

PUT THROUGH. A phrase very general in its application. 
When a student treats, introduces, or assists another, or 
masters a hard lesson, he is said to put him or it through. 
In a discourse by the Rev. Dr. Orville Dewey, on the Law of 
Progress, referring to these words, he said " he had heard 
a teacher use the characteristic expression that his pupils 
should be ^put through ' such and such studies. This, he 
said, is a modern practice. We put children through phi- 
losophy, — put them through history, — put them through 
Euclid. He had no faith in this plan, and wished to see the 
school teachers set themselves against this forcing process." 
2. To examine thoroughly and with despatch. 
First Thatcher, then Hadley, then Larned and Prex, 
Each j9Mf our class through in succession. 

Presentation Day Songs, June 14, 1854. 



AND CUSTOMS. 383 

Q. 

Q. See Cue. 

QUAD. An abbreviation of Quadrangle, q. v. 

How silently did all come down the staircases into tlie chapel 
quad^ that evening! — Collegian's Guide, p. 88. 

His mother had been in Oxford only the week before, and had 
been seen crossing the quad in tears. — Ihid., p. 144. 
QUADRANGLE. At Oxford and Cambridge, Eng., the rec- 
tangular courts in which the colleges are constructed. 
Soon as the clouds divide, and dawning day 
Tints the quadrangle with its earliest ray. 

The College^ in Blackwood's Mag., May, 1849. 

QUARTEE-DAY. The day when quarterly payments are 
made. The day that completes three months. 

At Harvard and Yale Colleges, quarter-day, when the 
officers and instructors receive their quarterly salaries, was 
formerly observed as a holiday. One of the evils which 
prevailed among the students of the former institution, about 
the middle of the last century, was the "riotous disorders 
frequently committed on the quarter-days and evenings," on 
one of which, in 1764, " the windows of all the Tutors and 
divers other windows were broken," so that, in consequence, 
a vote was passed that " the observation of quarter-days, in 
distinction from other days, be wholly laid aside, and that 
the undergraduates be obhged to observe the studying hours, 
and to perform the college exercises, on quarter-day, and the 
day following, as at other times." — Peirce's Hist. Harv. 
Univ., p. 216. 

QUESTIONIST. In the English universities, a name given 
to those who are in the last term of their college course, and 
are soon to be examined for honors or degrees. — Wehster. 

In the " Orders agreed upon by the Overseers, at a meet- 
ing in Harvard College, May 6th, 1650," this word is used 
in the following sentence : " And, in case any of the Soph- 
isters, Questionists, or Inceptors fail in the premises re- 



384 COLLEGE WORDS 

quired at their hands, they shall be deferred to the 

following year " ; but it does not seem to have gained any 
prevalence in the College, and is used, it is believed, only in 
this passage. 
QUILLWHEEL. At the Wesleyan University, "when a 
student," says a correspondent, " ' knocks under,' or yields 
a point, he says he quillwheels, that is, he acknowledges he 
is wrong." 



R. 

RAG. This word is used at Union College, and is thus ex- 
plained by a correspondent: "To rag and ragging^ you 
will find of very extensive application, they being employed 
primarily as expressive of what is called by the vulgar 
thieving and stealing, but in a more extended sense as 
meaning superiority. Thus, if one declaims or composes 
much better than his classmates, he is said to rag all his 
competitors." 

The common phrase, " to take the rag off,'^ i. e. to excel, 
seems to be the form from which this word has been abbre- 
viated. 

RAKE. At Williams and at Bowdoin Colleges, used in the 
phrase " to rahe an X," i. e. to recite perfectly, ten being the 
number of marks given for the best recitation. 

RAM. A practical joke. 

in season to be just too late 

A successful ram to perpetrate. 

Sophomore Independent^ Union Coll., Nov. 1854. 

RAM ON THE CLERGY. At Middlebury College, a 
synonyme of the slang noun, " sell." 

RANTERS. At Bethany College, in Virginia, there is "a 
band," says a correspondent, " calling themselves ' Ranters^ 



AND CUSTOMS. 385 

formed for tlie purpose of perpetrating all kinds of rascality 
and miscliievousness, both on their fellow-students and the 
neighboring people. The band is commanded by one selected 
from the party, called the Grand Ranter^ whose orders are 
to be obeyed under penalty of expulsion of the person of- 
fending. Among the tricks commonly indulged in are those 
of robbing hen and turkey roosts, and feasting upon the 
fruits of their labor, of stealing from the neighbors their 
horses, to enjoy the pleasure of a midnight ride, and to facili- 
tate their nocturnal perambulations. If detected, and any 
complaint is made, or if the Faculty are informed of their 
movements, they seek revenge by shaving the tails and manes 
of the favorite horses belonging to the person informing, or by 
some similar trick." 

RAZOR. A writer in the Yale Literary Magazine defines 
this word in the following sentence : " Many of the members 
of this time-honored institution, from whom we ought to ex- 
pect better things, not only do their own shaving, but actually 
make their own razors. But I must explain for the benefit 
of the uninitiated. A pun, m the elegant college dialect, is 
called a razor, while an attempt at a pun is styled a sick 
razor. The sick ones are by far the most numerous ; how- 
ever, once in a while you meet with one in quite respectable 
health." — Vol. XIII. p. 283. 

The meeting will be opened with razors by the Society's jester. 
— Yale Toynahawk, Nov. 1849. 

Behold how Duncia leads her chosen sons, 

All armed with squibs, stale jokes, dull razors, puns. 

The Gallinipper, Dec. 1849. 

READ. To be studious ; to practise much reading ; e. g. at 
Oxford, to read for a first class ; at Cambridge, to read for 
an honor. In America it is common to speak of " reading 
law, medicine," &c. 

We seven stayed at Christmas up to read ; 
We seven took one tutor. 

Tennyson, Prologue to Princess. 
33 



386 COLLEGE WORDS 

la England the vacations are tiie very times when you read most. 
Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 78. 

This system takes for granted that the students have " read" as 
it is termed, with a private practitioner of medicine. — Cat. Univ. 
of Virginia^ 1851, p. 25. 

READER. In the University of Oxford, one who reads lec- 
tures on scientific subjects. — Lyell. 

2. At the English universities, a hard student, nearly- 
equivalent to Reading Man. 

Most of the^ Cantabs are late readers^ so that, supposing one of 
them to begin at seven, he will not leave off before half past eleven. 
— Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 21. 

READERSHIP. In the University of Oxford, the office of a 
reader or lecturer on scientific subjects. — LyelL 

READING. In the academic sense, studying. 

One would hardly suspect them to be students at all, did not the 
number of glasses hint that those who carried them had impaired 
their sight by late reading. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 5. 

READING MAN. In the English universities, a reading 
man is a hard student, or one vs^ho is entirely devoted to his 
collegiate studies. — Webster. 

The distinction between " reading men " and " non-reading men " 
began to manifest itself — Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 169. 

We might wonder, perhaps, if in England the " ol ttoWol " should 
be " reading men" but with us we should wonder were they not. — 
Williams Quarterly, Vol. II. p. 15. 

READING PARTY. In England, a number of students who 
in vacation time, and at a distance from the university, pursue 
their studies together under the direction of a coach, or pri- 
vate tutor. 

Of this method of studying, Bristed remarks : " It is not 
impossible to read on a reading-party ; there is only a great 
chance against your being able to do so. As a very general 
rule, a man works best in his accustomed place of business, 
where he has not only his ordinary appliances and helps, but 
his familiar associations about him. The time lost in settling 



AND CUSTOMS. 387 

down and making one's self comfortable and ready for work 
in a new place is not inconsiderable, and is all clear loss. 
Moreover, the very idea of a reading-party involves a com- 
bination ot two things incompatible, — amusement and re- 
laxation beyond the proper and necessary quantity of daily 
exercise, and hard work at books. 

" Reading-parties do not confine themselves to England or 
the island of Great Britain. Sometimes they have been 
known to go as far as Dresden. Sometimes a party is of 
considerable size ; when a crack Tutor goes on one, which is 
not often, he takes his whole team with him, and not unfre- 
quently a Classical and Mathematical Bachelor join their 
pupils." — Five Tears in an Eng, Univ., Ed. 2d, pp. 199 
-201. 

READ UP. Students often speak of reading up, i. e. prepar- 
ing themselves to write on a subject, by reading the works of 
authors who have treated of it. 

REBELLION TREE. At Harvard College, a large elm- 
tree, which stands to the east of the south entry of Hollis 
Hall, has long been known by this name. It is supposed to 
have been planted at the request of Dr. Thaddeus M. Harris. 
His son. Dr. Thaddeus "W. Harris, the present Librarian of 
the College, says that his father has often told him, that when 
he held the of6.ce of Librarian, in the year 1792, a number 
of trees were set out in the College yard, and that one was 
planted opposite his room, No. 7 Hollis Hall, under which he 
buried a pewter plate, taken from the commons hall. On 
this plate was inscribed his name, the day of the month, the 
year, &c. From its situation and appearance, the Rebellion 
Tree would seem to be the one thus described ; but it did not 
receive its name until the year 1807, when the famous rebel- 
lion occurred among the students, and perhaps not until with- 
in a few years antecedent to the year 1819. At that time, 
however, this name seems to have been the one by which it 
was commonly known, from the reference which is made to it 
in the Rebelliad, a poem written to commemorate the deeds 
of the rebellion of that year. 



388 COLLEGE WORDS 

And roared as loud as he could yell, 
" Come on, my lads, let us rebel !" 

With one accord they all agree 
To dance around Rebellion Tree. 

Rehelliad, p. 46. 
But they, rebellious rascals ! flee 
For shelter to Rehellion Tree. 

Ibid., p. 60. 
Stands a tree in front of Hollis, 
Dear to Harvard over all ; 

But than desert us, 

Rather let Rebellion fall. 

MS. Poem. 

Other scenes are sometimes enacted under its branches, as 
the following verses show : — 

When the old year was drawing towards its close, 
And in its place the gladsome new one rose, 
Then members of each class, with spirits free. 
Went forth to greet her round Rebellion Tree. 
Bound that old tree, sacred to students' rights. 
And witness, too, of many wondrous sights, 
In solemn circle all the students passed ; 
They danced with spirit, until, tired, at last 
A pause they make, and some a song propose. 
Then " Auld Lang Syne " from many voices rose. 
Now, as the lamp of the old year dies out. 
They greet the new one with exulting shout ; 

They groan for , and each class they cheer, 

And thus they usher in the fair new year. 

Poem before K L.ofl. 0. of 0. F., p. 19, 1849. 

EECENTES. Latin for the English Freshmen. Consult 
Clap's History of Yale CoUege, 1766, p. 124. 

RECITATION. In American colleges and schools, the re- 
hearsal of a lesson by pupils before their instructor. — Web- 
ster. 

RECITATION-EOOM. The room where lessons are re- 
hearsed by pupils before their instructor. 



AND CUSTOMS. 389 

In the older American colleges, the rooms of the Tutors 
were formerly the recitation-rooms of the classes. At Har- 
vard College, the benches on which the students sat when 
reciting were, when not in use, kept in piles, outside of the 
Tutors' rooms. When the hour of recitation arrived, they 
would carry them into the room, and again return them to 
their places when the exercise was finished. One of the 
favorite amusements of the students v/as to burn these 
benches ; the spot selected for the bonfire being usually the 
green in front of the old meeting-house, or the common. 
RECITE. Transitively, to rehearse, as a lesson to an in- 
structor. 

2. Intransitively, to rehearse a lesson. The class will 
recite at eleven o'clock. — Webster. 

This word is used in both forms in American seminaries. 

RECORD OF MERIT. At Middlebury College "a class- 
book is kept by each instructor, in which the character of 
each student's recitation is noted by numbers, and all absences 
from college exercises are minuted. Demerit for absences 
and other irregularities is also marked in like manner, and 
made the basis of discipline. At the close of each term, the 
average of these marks is recorded, and, when desired, com- 
municated to parents and guardians." This book is called 
the record of merit. — Oaf. Middlebury Coll., 1850 - 51, p. 17. 

RECTOR. The chief elective ofiicer of some universities, as 
in France and Scotland. The same title was formerly given 
to the president of a college in New England, but it is not 
now in use. — Webster. 

The title of Rector was given to the chief officer of Yale 
College at the time of its foundation, and was continued until 
the year 1745, when, by " An Act for the more full and com- 
plete establishment of Yale College in New Haven," it was 
changed, among other alterations, to that of President. — 
Clap's Annals of Yale College, p. 47. 

The chief ofiicer of Harvard College at the time of its 
foundation was styled Master or Professor. Mr. Dunster 
33* 



390 COLLEGE WORDS 

was chosen the first President, in 1640, and those who suc- 
ceeded him bore this title until the year 1686, when Mr. 
Joseph Dudley, having received the commission of President 
of the Colony, changed for the sake of distinction the title 
of President of the College to that of Rector. A few years 
after, the title of President was resumed. — Peirce^s Hist, of 
Harv. Univ., p. 63. 
REDE AT. Latin ; literally, he may return. " It is the cus- 
tom in some colleges," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, 
" on coming into residence, to wait on the Dean, and sign 
your name in a book, kept for that purpose, which is called 
signing your Pedeat." — p. 92. 

REFECTORY. At Oxford, Eng., the place where the mem- 
bers of each college or hall dine. This word was originally 
applied to an apartment in convents and monasteries, where 
a moderate repast was taken. — Prande. 

In Oxford there are nineteen colleges and five halls, containing 
dwelling-rooms for the students, and a distinct refectory or dining- 
hall, library, and chapel to each college and hall. — Oxf Guide, 
1847, p. xvi. 

At Princeton College, this name is given to the hall where 
the students eat together in common. — Abbreviated Re- 

FEC. 

REGENT. In the English universities, the regents, or re- 
gentes, are members of the university who have certain 
peculiar duties of instruction or government. At Cambridge, 
all resident Masters of Arts of less than four years' standing, 
and all Doctors of less than two, are Regents. At Oxford, 
the period of regency is shorter. At both universities, those 
of a more advanced standing, who keep their names on the 
college books, are called non-regents. At Cambridge, the 
regents compose the upper house, and the non-regents the 
lower house of the Senate, or governing body. At Oxford, 
the regents compose the Congregation, which confers de- 
grees, and does the ordinary business of the University. 
The regents and non-regents, collectively, compose the Con- 



AND CUSTOMS. 391 

vocation, which is the governing body in the last resort. — 
Wehste7\ 

See Senate. 

2. In the State of New York, the member of a corporate 
body which is invested with the superintendence of all the 
colleges, academies, and schools in the State. This board 
consists of twenty-one members, who are called the Regents 
of the University of the State of New Torh. They are ap- 
pointed and removable by the legislature. They have power 
to grant acts of incorporation for colleges, to visit and inspect 
all colleges, academies, and schools, and to make regulations 
for governing the same. — Statutes of New Torh. 

3. At Harvard College, an officer chosen from the Faculty, 
whose duties are under the immediate direction of the Pres- 
ident. All weekly lists of absences, monitor's bills, petitions 
to the Faculty for excuse of absences from the regular ex- 
ercises and for making up lessons, all petitions for elective 
studies, the returns of the scale of merit, and returns of de- 
linquencies and deductions by the tutors and proctors, are left 
with the Regent, or deposited in his office. The Regent also 
informs those who petition for excuses, and for elective 
studies, of the decision of the Faculty in regard to their 
petitions. Formerly, the Regent assisted in making out the 
quarter or term bills, of which he kept a record, and when 
students were punished by fining, he was obliged to keep an 
account of the fines, and the offisnces for which they were 
imposed. Some of his duties were performed by a Fresh- 
man, who was appointed by the Faculty. — Laws Harv. 
Coll., 1814, and Regulations, 1850. 

The creation of the office of Regent at Harvard College 
is noticed by Professor Sidney Willard. In the year 1800 
" an officer was appointed to occupy a room in one of the 
halls to supply the place of a Tutor, for preserving order in 
the rooms in his entry, and to perform the duties that had 
been discharged by the Butler, so far as it regarded the keep- 
ing of certain records. He was allowed the service of a 
Freshman, and the offices of Butler and of Butler's Fresh- 



392 COLLEGE WORDS 

man were abolished. The title of this new officer was Re- 
gent." — Memories of Youth and Manhood, Vol. II. p. 107. 
See Fkeshivian, Regent's. 
REGISTER. In Union College, an officer whose duties are 
similar to those enumerated under Registrar. He also 
acts, without charge, as fiscal guardian for all students who 
deposit funds in his hands. 
REGISTRAR, | In the English universities, an officer 
REGISTRARY.jwho has the keeping of all the pubHc 
records. — Encyc. 

At Harvard College, the Corporation appoint one of the 
Faculty to the office of Registrar. He keeps a record of the 
votes and orders passed by the latter body, gives certified 
copies of the same when requisite, and performs other like 
duties. — Laws TJniv, at Gam., Mass., 1848. 

REGIUS PROFESSOR. A name given in the British uni- 
versities to the incumbents of those professorships which 
have been founded by royal bounty. 

REGULATORS. At Hamilton College, "a Junior Class af-' 
fair," writes a correspondent, " consisting of fifteen or twenty 
members, whose object is to regulate college laws and customs 
according to their own way. They are known only by their 
deeds. Who the members are, no one out of the band knows. 
Their time for action is in the night." 

RELEGATION. In German universities, the relegation is 
the punishment next in severity to the consilium abeundi. 
Howitt explains the term in these words : " It has two de- 
grees. First, the simple relegation. This consists in expul- 
sion [out of the district of the court of justice within which 
the university is situated], for a period of from two to three 
years ; after which the offender may indeed return, but can 
no more be received as an academical burger. Secondly, the 
sharper relegation, which adds to the simple relegation an 
announcement of the fact to the magistracy of the place of 
abode of the offender ; and, according to the discretion of the 
court, a confinement in an ordinary prison, previous to the 



AND CUSTOMS. 393 

banishment, is added ; and also the sharper relegation can be 
extended to more than four years, the ordinary term, — yes, 
even to perpetual expulsion." — Student Life of Germany, 
Am. ed., p. 33. 

RELIG. At Princeton College, an abbreviated name for a 
professor of religion. 

KENOWN. German, renommiren, to hector, to bully. Among 
the students in German universities, to renown is, in English 
popular phrase, " to cut a swell." — Hoivitt. 

The spare hours of the forenoon and afternoon are spent in fen- 
cing, in renoivning, — that is, in doing things which make people 
stare at them, and in providing duels for the morrow. — Russell's 
Tour in Germany, Edinburgh ed., 1825, Vol. II. pp. 156, 157. 
We cannot be deaf to the testimony of respectable eyewitnesses, 

who, in proof of these defects, teU us of " renoioning" or 

wild irregularities, in which " the spare hours " of the day are 
spent. — D. A. White's Address he/ore Sac. of the Alumni of Harv. 
Univ., Aug. 27, 1844, p. 24. 

REPLICATOR. " The first discussions of the Society, called 
Forensic, were in writing, and conducted by only two mem- 
bers, styled the Respondent and the Opponent. Subsequent- 
ly, a third was added, called a Replicator, who reviewed the 
arguments of the other two, and decided upon their com- 
parative merits." — Semi-centennial Anniversary of the Phi- 
lomatliean Society, Union Coll., p. 9. 
REPORT. A word much in use among the students of uni- 
versities and colleges, in the common sense of to inform 
against, but usually spoken in reference to the Faculty. 
Thanks to the friendly proctor who spared to report me. 

Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 79. 
If I hear again 
Of such fell outrage to the college laws, 
Of such loud tumult after eight o'clock, 
Thou 'It be reported to the Faculty. — Ibid., p. 257. 

RESIDENCE. At the English universities, to be " in resi- 
dence " is to occupy rooms as a member of a college, either in 
the college itself, or in the town where the college is situated. 



394 COLLEGE WORDS 

Trinity usually numbers four hundred undergraduates in 

residence. — BristecVs Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed, 2d, p. 11. 

At Oxford, an examination, not always a very easy one, must be 
passed before the student can be admitted to residence. — West- 
minster Rev., Am. ed.. Vol. XXXV. p. 232. 
EESIDENT GEADUATE. In tlie United States, graduates 
who are desirous of pursuing their studies in a place where a 
college is situated, without joining any of its departments, can 
do so in the capacity of residents or resident graduates. They 
are allowed to attend the public lectures given in the institu- 
tion, and enjoy the use of its library. Like other students, 
they give bonds for the payment of college dues. — Coll. Laws. 

RESPONDENT. In the schools, one who maintains a thesis 
in reply, and whose province is to refute objections, or over- 
throw arguments. — Watts. 

This word, with its companion, affirmant, was formerly 
used in American colleges, and was applied to those who 
engaged in the syllogistic discussions then incident to Com- 
mencement. 

But the main exercises were disputations upon questions, wherein 
the respondents first made their theses. — Matliefs Magnolia, B. 
IV. p. 128. 

The syllogistic disputes were held between an affirmant and re- 
spondent, who stood in the side galleries of the church opposite to 
one another, and shot the weapons of their logic over the heads of 
the audience. — Pres. Woolsey's Hist. Disc, Yale Coll., p. Q>b. 

In the pubHc exercises at Commencement, I was somewhat re- 
marked as a respondent. — Life and Works of John Adams, Vol. II. 
p. 3. 

RESPONSION. In the University of Oxford, an examina- 
tion about the middle of the college course, also called the 
Little-go. — Lyell. 
See Little-go. 

RETRO. Latin ; literally, hach Among the students of the 
University of Cambridge, Eng., used to designate a hehind- 
hand account. " A cook's bill of extraordinaries not settled 
by the Tutor." — Grad. ad Cantah. 



AND CUSTOMS. 395 

REVIEW. A second or repeated examination of a lesson, or 
the lesson itself thus re-examined. 

He cannot get the " advance," forgets " the review" 

Childe Harvard, p. 13. 

RIDER. The meaning of this word, used at Cambridge, Eng., 
is given in the annexed sentence. " His ambition is gener- 
ally limited to doing " riders" which are a sort of scholia, or 
easy deductions from the book-work propositions, like a link 
between them and problems ; indeed, the rider being, as its 
name imports, attached to a question, the question is not fully 
answered until the rider is answered also." — Bristed's Five 
Tears in an Eng, Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 222. 
ROLL A "WHEEL. At the University of Vermont, in stu- 
dent parlance, to devise a scheme or lay a plot for an election 
or a college spree, is to roll a wheel. E. g. "John was 
always rolling a hig wheel" i. e. incessantly concocting some 
plot. 
ROOM. To occupy an apartment ; to lodge ; an academic use 
of the word. — Webster. 

Inquire of any student at our colleges where Mr. B. lodges, 
and you will be told he rooms in such a building, such a story, 
or up so many flights of stairs, No. — , to the right or left. 

The Eowes, years ago, used to room in Dartmouth Hall. — The 
Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 117. 

Booming in college, it is convenient that they should have the 
more immediate oversight of the deportment of the students. — 
Scenes and Characters in College, p. 133. 

Seven years ago, I roomed in this room where we are now. — 
Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XH. p. 114. 

When Christmas came again I came back to this room, but the 
man who roomed here was frightened and ran away. — Ibid., Vol. 
XII. p. 114. 

Rent for these apartments is exacted from Sophomores, about 
sixty rooming out of college. — Burlesque Catalogue, Yale Coll., 
1852-53, p. 26. 

ROOT. A word first used in the sense given below by Dr. 
Paley. " He [Paley] held, indeed, all those little arts of 



396 COLLEGE WORDS 

underhand address, by which patronage and preferment are 
so frequently pursued, in supreme contempt. He was not of 
a nature to root ; for that was his own expressive term, after- 
wards much used in the University to denote the sort of prac- 
tice alluded to. He one day humorously proposed, at some 
social meeting, that a certain contemporary Fellow of his 
College [Christ's College, Cambridge, Eng.], at that time 
distinguished for his elegant and engaging manners, and who 
has since attained no small eminence in the Church of Eng- 
land, should be appointed Professor of Rooting J^ — Memoirs 
of Paley. 

2. To study hard ; to Dig, q. v. 

Ill-favored men, eager for his old boots and diseased raiment, 
torment him while rooting at his Greek. — Haw. Mag., Vol. I. p. 
267. 

ROT. Twaddle, platitude. In use among the students at the 
University of Cambridge, Eng. — Bristed. 

HOWES. The name of a party which formerly existed at 
Dartmouth College. They are thus described in The Dart- 
mouth, VoL IV. p. 117: "The Rowes are very liberal, in 
their notions. The Eowes don't pretend to say anything 
worse of a fellow than to call him a Blue, and vice versaP 
See Blues. 

ROWING. The making of loud and noisy disturbance ; 
acting Hke a rowdy. 

Flushed with the juice of the grape, all prime and ready for rowing, 
When from the ground I raised the fragments of ponderous brickbat. 

Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 98. 
The Fellow-Commoners generally being more disposed to rowing 
than reading. — Briated's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, 
p. 34. 

ROWING-MAN. One who is more inclined to fast living 
than hard study. Among English students used in contra- 
distinction to Reading-Man, q. v. 

When they go out to sup, as a reading-man does perhaps once a 
term, and a rowing-man twice a week, they eat very moderately, 



AND CUSTOMS. 397 

though their potations are sometimes of the deepest. — Bristed's 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ.^ Ed. 2d, p. 21. 

ROWL, "^ At Princeton, Union, and Hamilton Colleges, 

ROWEL. ) this word is used to signify a good recitation. Used 
in the phrase, " to make a rowV From the second of these 
colleges, a correspondent writes : " Also of the word rowl ; 
if a public speaker presents a telling appeal or passage, he 
would make a perfect rowl, in the language of all students at 
least." 

ROWL. To recite well. A correspondent from Princeton 
College defines this word, " to perform any exercise well, 
recitation, speech, or composition ; to succeed in any branch 
or pursuit." 

RUSH. At Yale College, a perfect recitation is denominated 
a rush. 

I got my lesson perfectly, and what is more, made a perfect rush. 
—Yale Lit Mag., Vol. XIII. p. 134. 

Every rush and fizzle made 
Every body frigid laid. 

Ibid., Vol. XX. p. 186. 
.This mark [that of a hammer with a note, " hit the nail on the 
head "] signifies that the student makes a capital hit ; in other words, 
a decided rush. — Yale Banger, Nov. 10, 1846. 

In dreams his many rushes heard. 

Ibid., Oct. 22, 1847. 

This word is much used among students with the common 
meaning ; thus, they speak of " a rush into prayers," " a rush 
into the recitation-room," &c. A correspondent from Dart- 
mouth College says : " Bushing the Freshmen is putting 
them out of the chapel." Another from Williams writes : 
" Such a man is making a rush, and to this we often add — 
for the Valedictory." 

The gay regatta where the Oneida led, 
The glorious rushes, Seniors at the head. 

Class Poem, Harv. Coll, 1849. 

One of the Trinity men was making a tremendous rush for a 

Fellowship. — Bristed^s Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 158. 
34 



398 COLLEGE WORDS 

RUSH. To recite well ; to make a perfect recitation. 

It was purchased by the nian, — wlio ' really did not look ' at 
the lesson on wliicli he ^rushed.' — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XIV. 
p. 411. 

Then for the students mark flunks, even though the young men may 
be rusJimg. — Yale Banger, Oct., 1848. 
So they pulled ofi' their coats, and rolled up their sleeves. 
And rushed in Bien. Examination. 

Presentation Day Songs, Yale Coll., June 14, 1854. 

RUSTICATE. To send a student for a time from a college 
or university, to reside in the country, by way of punishment 
for some offence. 

See a more complete definition under Rustication. 
And those whose crimes are very great. 
Let us suspend or rusticate. — EebelUad, p. 24. 
The " scope " of what I have to state 
Is to suspend and rusticate. — Ibid., p. 28. 

The same meaning is thus paraphrastically conveyed : — 
By my official power, I swear, 

That you shall smell the country air. — Rehelliad, p. 45. 
RUSTICATION. In universities and colleges, the punish- 
ment of a student for some offence, by compelling him to 
leave the institution, and reside for a time in the country, 
where he is obliged to pursue with a private instructor the 
studies with which his class are engaged during his term of 
separation, and in which he is obliged to pass a satisfactory 
examination before he can be reinstated in his class. 

It seems plain from his own verses to Diodati, that Milton had 
incurred rustication, — a temporary dismission into the country, 
with, perhaps, the loss of a term. — Johnson. 

Take then this friendly exhortation. 
The next offence is Rustication. 

MS. Poem, by John Q. Adams. 

RUST-RINGING. At Hamilton College, « the Freshmen," 
writes a correspondent, " are supposed to lose some of their 
verdancy at the end of the last term of that year, and the 
* ringing off their rust' consists in ringing the chapel bell — 



AND CUSTOMS. 399 

commencing at midniglit — until the rope wears out. Dur- 
ing the ringing, the upper classes are diverted by the display 
of numerous fire-works, and enlivened by most beautifully 
discordant sounds, called * music,' made to issue from tin 
kettle-drums, horse-fiddles, trumpets, horns, &c., &c." 



s. 

SACK. To expel. Used at Hamilton College. 
SAIL. At Bowdoin College, a sail is a perfect recitation. To 
sail is to recite perfectly. 

SAINT. A name among students for one who pretends to 
particular sanctity of manners. 

Or if he had been a hard-reading man from choice, — or a stupid 
man, — or a ^^ saint" — no one would have troubled themselves 
about him. — Blackwood's Mag., Eng. ed., Vol. LX. p. 148. 

SALTING THE FRESHMEN. In reference to this cus- 
tom, which belongs to Dartmouth College, a correspondent 
from that institution writes : " There is an annual trick of 
^salting the Freshmen,^ which is putting salt and water on 
their seats, so that their clothes are injured when they sit 
down." The idea of preservation, cleanliness, and health is 
no doubt intended to be conveyed by the use of the whole- 
some articles salt and water. 

S ALUTATORIAN. The student of a college who pronounces 
the salutatory oration at the annual Commencement. — Web- 
ster. 

SALUTATORY. An epithet applied to the oration which 
introduces the exercises of the Commencements in American 
colleges. — Webster. 

The oration is often called, simply. The Salutatory. 
And we ask our friends " out in the world," whenever they meet 
an educated man of the class of '49, not to ask if he had the Vale- 



400 COLLEGE WORDS 

dictory or Salutatory^ but if he takes the Indicator. — Amherst Indi- 
cator, Vol. II. p. 96. 
SATIS. Latin ; literally, enough. In the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., the lowest honor in the schools. The manner 
in which this word is used is explained in the Gradus ad 
Cantabrigiam, as follows : " Satis disputasti ; which is as 
much as to say, in the colloquial style, ^ Bad enough.' Satis 
et bene disputasti, ' Pretty fair, — tolerable.' Satis et optime 
disputasti, ' Go thy ways, thou flower and quintessence of 
Wranglers.' Such are the compliments to be expected from 
the Moderator, after the act is kept." — p. 95. 
S. B. An abbreviation for Scientice Baccalaureus, Bachelor in 
Science. At Harvard College, this degree is conferred on 
those who have pursued a prescribed course of study for 
at least one year in the Scientific School, and at the end of 
that period passed a satisfactory examination. The different 
degrees of excellence are expressed in the diploma by the 
words, cum laude, cum magna laude, cum summa laude. 
SCARLET DAY. In the Church of England, certain festi- 
val days are styled scarlet days. On these occasions, the 
doctors in the three learned professions appear in their scarlet 
robes, and the noblemen residing in the universities wear 
their full dresses. — Grad. ad Cantab. 
SCHEME. The printed papers which are given to the stu- 
dents at Yale College at the Biennial Examination, and which 
contain the questions that are to be answered, are denomi- 
nated schemes. They are also called, simply, papers. 
See the down-cast air, and the blank despair, 
That sits on each Soph'more feature, 
As his bleared eyes gleam o'er that horrid scheme ! 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 22. 
Olmsted served an apprenticeship setting up types, 
For the schemes of Bien. Examination. 

Presentation Day Songs, June 14, 1854. 
Here 's health to the tutors who gave us good schemes, 
Vive la compagnie ! 

Songs, Biennial Jubilee, 1855. 



AND CUSTOMS. 401 

SCHOLAR. Any member of a college, academy, or school. 
2. An undergraduate in English universities, who belongs 
to the foundation of a college, and receives support in part 
from its revenues. — Webster. 

SCHOLAR OF THE HOUSE. At Yale College, those are 
called Scholars of the House who, by superiority in scholarship, 
become entitled to receive the income arising from certain 
foundations established for the purpose of promoting learning 
and literature. In some cases the recipient is required to 
remain at New Haven for a specified time, and pursue a 
course of studies under the direction of the Faculty of the 
College. — Sketches of Tale Coll., p. 86. Laws of Tale Coll. 

2. " The scholar of the house," says President Woolsey, 
in his Historical Discourse, — " scholaris cedilitus of the 
Latin laws, — before the institution of Berkeley's scholar- 
ships which had the same title, was a kind of aedile appointed 
by the President and Tutors to inspect the public buildings, 
and answered in a degree to the Inspector known to our 
present laws and practice. He was not to leave town until 
the Friday after Commencement, because in that week more 
than usual damage was done to the buildings." — p. 43. 

The duties of this officer are enumerated in the annexed 
passage. " The Scholar of the House, appointed by the 
President, shall diligently observe and set down the glass 
broken in College windows, and every other damage done 
in College, together with the time when, and the person by 
whom, it was done ; and every quarter he shall make up a bill 
of such damages, charged against every scholar according to 
the laws of College, and deliver the same to the President or 
the Steward, and the Scholar of the House shall tarry at Col- 
lege until Friday noon after the public Commencement, and in 
that time shall be obliged to view any damage done in any 
chamber upon the information of him to whom the chamber 
is assigned." — Laws of Tale Coll., 1774, p. 22. 

SCHOLARSHIP. Exhibition or maintenance for a scholar ; 
foundation for the support of a student. — Ainsworth. 
34* 



402 COLLEGE WOKDS 

SCHOOL. The Schools, jt?^.; the seminaries for teaching 
logic, metaphysics, and theology, which were formed in the 
Middle Ages, and which were characterized by academical 
disputations and subtilties of reasoning ; or the learned men 
who were engaged in discussing nice points in metaphysics or 
theology. — Wehster. 

2. In some American colleges, the different departments 
for teaching law, medicine, divinity, &c. are denominated 
schools. 

3. The name given at the University of Oxford to the place 
of examination. The pribcipal exercises consist of disputa- 
tions in philosophy, divinity, and law, and are always con- 
ducted in a sort of barbarous Latin. 

I attended the Schools several times, with the view of acquiring 
the tact and self-possession so requisite in these public contests. — 
Alma Mater, Vol. II. p. 39. 

There were only two sets of men there, one who fagged unre- 
mittingly for the Schools, and another devoted to frivolity and dis- 
sipation. — Bristed's Five Years in anEng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 141. 

S. C. L. At the English universities, one who is pursuing 
law studies and has not yet received the degree of B. C. L. 
or D. C. L., is designated S. C. L., Student in or of Civil 
Law, 

At the University of Cambridge, Eng., persons in this 
rank who have kept their acts wear a full-sleeved gown, and 
are entitled to use a B. A. hood. 

SCONCE. To mulct; to fine. Used at the University of 
Oxford. 

A young fellow of Baliol College, having, upon some discontent, 
cut his throat very dangerously, the Master of the College sent his 
servitor to the buttery-book to sconce (i. e. fine) him 55. ; and, says 
the Doctor, tell him the next time he cuts his throat I '11 sconce him 
ten. — Terrce-Filius, No. 39. 

Was sconced in a quart of ale for quoting Latin, a passage from 
Juvenal ; murmured, and the fine was doubled. — The Etonian^ 
Vol. II. p. 391. 



AND CUSTOMS. 403 

SCOUT. A cant term at Oxford for a college servant or 
waiter. — Oxford Guide. 

My scout^ indeed, is a very learned fello-vv, and has an excellent 
knack at using hard words. One morning he told me the gentle- 
man in the next room contagious to mine desired to speak to me. 
I once overheard him give a fellow-servant very sober advice not 
to go astray, but be true to his own wife ; for idolatry would surely 
bring a man to instruction at last. — The Student^ Oxf. and Cam., 
1750, Vol.1, p. 55. 

An anteroom, or vestibule, which serves the purpose of a scout's 
pantry. — The Etonian^ Vol. II. p. 280. 

Scouts are usually pretty communicative of all they know. — 
Blackwood's Mag., Eng. ed., Vol. LX. p. 147. 

Sometimes used in American colleges. 

In order to quiet him, we had to send for his factotum or scout, 
an old black fellow. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XI. p. 282. 

SCRAPE. To insult by drawing the feet over the floor. — 
Grose. 

But in a manner quite uncivil, 

They hissed and scraped him like the devil. 

Eehelliad, p. 37. 
" I do insist," 
Quoth he, " that two, who scraped and hissed, 
Shall be condemned without a jury 
To pass the winter months in rure." — Ibid., p. 41. 
They not unfrequently rose to open outrage or some personal 
molestation, as casting missiles through his windows at night, or 
"scraping him" by day. — A Tour through College, Boston, 1832, 
p. 25. 

SCRAPING. A drawing of, or the act of drawing, the feet 
over the floor, as an insult t-o some one, or merely to cause 
disturbance ; a shuffling of the feet. 

New lustre was added to the dignity of their feelings by the 
pathetic and impressive manner in which they expressed them, 
which was by stamping and scraping majestically with their feet, 
when in the presence of the detested tutors. — Don Quixotes at 
College, 1807. 



404 COLLEGE WORDS 

The morning and evening daily prayers were, on the next day 
(Thursday), interrupted by scraping^ whistling, groaning, and other 
disgraceful noises. — Circular^ Harvard Collegej 1834, p. 9. 

This word is used in the universities and colleges of both 
England and America. 

SCREW. In some American colleges, an excessive, unneces- 
sarily minute, and annoying examination of a student by an 
instructor is called a screw. The instructor is often desig- 
nated by the same name. 

Haunted by day with fearful screw. 

Harvard Lyceum, p. 102. 
Screws, duns, and other such like evils. 

Rebelliad, p. 77. 
One must experience all the stammering and stuttering, the un- 
ending doubtings and guessings, to understand fully the power of a 
mathematical screw. — Harv. Reg., p. 378. 

The consequence was, a patient submission to the screw, and a 
loss of college honor.a and patronage. — A Tour through College, 
Boston, 1832, p. 26. 

I '11 tell him a whopper next time, and astonish him so that he 11 
forget his screios. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XI. p. 336. 

What a darned screw our tutor is. — lUd. 

Apprehension of the severity of the examination, or what in after 
times, by an academic figure of speech, was called screwing, or a 
screw, was what excited the chief dread. — Willard's Memories of 
Youth and Manhood, Vol. I. p. 256. 

Passing such an examination is often denominated taking 
a screw. 

And sad it is to take a screw. 

Harv. Reg., p. 287. 

2. At Bowdoin College, an imperfect recitation is called a 
screw. 

You never should look blue, sir. 
If you chance to take a " screw," sir, 
To us it 's nothing new, sir. 
To drive dull care away. 

The Bowdoin Creed. 



AND CUSTOMS. 405 

We 've felt the cruel, torturing screw, 
And oft its driver's ire. 

Song, Sophomore Supper, Bowdoin Coll., 1850. 

SCREW. To press with an excessive and unnecessarily mi- 
nute examination. 

Who would let a tutor knave 
Screw him like a Guinea slave ! 

Rebelliad, p. 53. 
Have I been screwed, yea, deaded morn and eve, 
Some dozen moons of this collegiate life ? 

Harvardiana, Vol. HI. p. 255. 
O, I do well remember when in college. 
How we fought reason, — battles all in play, — 
Under a most portentous man of knowledge, 
The captain-general in the bloodless fray ; 
He was a wise man, and a good man, too, 
And robed himself in green whene'er he came to screw. 

Our Chronicle of '26, Boston, 1827. 

In a note to the last quotation, the author says of the word 
screw: "For the information of the inexperienced, we ex- 
plain this as a term quite rife in the universities, and, taken 
substantively, signifying an intellectual nonplus." 
At last the day is ended. 
The tutor screws no more. 

Knick. Mag., Vol. XLV. p. 195. 

SCREWING UP. The meaning of this phrase, as understood 
by English Cantabs, may be gathered from the following 
extract. " A magnificent sofa will be lying close to a door 

bored through from top to bottom from the screwing 

up of some former unpopular tenant ; " screwing up " being 
the process of fastening on the outside, with nails and screws, 
every door of the hapless wight's apartments. This is done 
at night, and in the morning the gentleman is leaning three- 
fourths out of his window, bawling for rescue." — Westmin- 
ster Rev., Am. Ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 239. 

SCRIBBLING-PAPER. A kind of writing-paper, rather 
inferior in quality, a trifle larger than foolscap, and used at 



406 COLLEGE WORDS 

the English universities by mathematicians and in the lecture- 
room. — Bristed. Grad. ad Gantah. 

Cards are commonly sold at Cambridge as ^^ scribhling-paper" — 
Westminster Rev., Am. ed., Yol. XXXV. p. 238. 

The summer apartment contained only a big standing-desk, the 
eternal " scribUing-paper" and the half-dozen mathematical works 
required. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 218. 

SCROUGE. An exaction. A very long lesson, or any hard 
or unpleasant task, is usually among students denominated a 
serouge, 

SCROUGE. To exact; to extort; said of an instructor who 
imposes difficult tasks on his pupils. 

It is used provincially in England, and in America in 
some of the Northern and Southern States, with the mean- 
ing to crowd, to squeeze. — Bartletfs Diet, of Americanisms. 

SCRUB. At Columbia College, a servant. 

2. One who is disliked for his meanness, ill-breeding, or 
vulgarity. Nearly equivalent to Spoon, q. v. 

SCRUBBY. Possessing the qualities of a scrub. Partially 
synonymous with the adjective Spoony, q. v. 

SCRUTATOR. In the University of Cambridge, England, 
an officer whose duty it is to attend all Congregations, to 
read the graces to the lower house of the Senate, to gather 
the votes secretly, or to take them openly in scrutiny, and 
publicly to pronounce the assent or dissent of that house. — 
Gam. Gal. 

SECOND-YEAR MEN. In the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., the title of Second-Year Men, or Junior Sophs or 
Sophisters, is given to students during the second year of 
their residence at the University. 

SECTION COURT. At Union College, the college buildings 
are divided into sections, a section comprising about fifteen 
rooms. Within each section is established a court, which is 
composed of a judge, an advocate, and a secretary, who are 
chosen by the students resident therein from their own num- 
ber, and hold their offices during one college term. Each 



AND CUSTOMS. 407 

section court claims the power to summon for trial any in- 
habitant within the bounds of its jurisdiction who may be 
charged with improper conduct. The accused may either 
defend himself, or select some person to plead for him, such 
residents of the section as choose to do so acting as jurors. 
The prisoner, if found guilty, is sentenced at the discretion of 
the court, — generally, to treat the company to some specified 
drink or dainty. These courts often give occasion for a great 
deal of fun, and sometimes call out real wit and eloquence. 

At one of our " section courts," which those who expected to 
enter upon the study of the law used to hold, &c. — The Parthe- 
non, Union Coll., 1851, p. 19. 

SECTION OFFICER. At Union College, each section of 
the college buildings, containing about fifteen rooms, is under 
the supervision of a professor or tutor, who is styled the sec- 
tion officer. This officer is required to see that there be no 
improper noise in the rooms or corridors, and to report the 
absence of students from chapel and recitation, and from their 
rooms during study hours. 
SEED. In Yale College this word is used to designate what 
is understood by the common cant terms, " a youth " ; " case " ; 
« bird " ; « b'hoy " ; " one of 'em." 

While tutors, every sport defeating, 
And under feet-worn stairs secreting, 
And each dark lane and alley beating, 
Hunt up the seeds In vain retreating. 

Yale Banger, Nov, 1849. 
The wretch had dared to flunk a gory seed ! 

Ibid., Nov. 1849. 
One tells his jokes, the other tells his beads, 
One talks of saints, the other sings of seeds. 

Ibid., Nov. 1849. 
But we are " seeds," whose rowdy deeds 
Make up the drunken tale. 

Yale Tomahawk, Nov. 1849. 
First Greek he enters ; and with reckless speed 
He drags o'er stumps and roots each hapless seed. 

Ibid., Nov. 1849. 



408 COLLEGE WORDS 

Each one a bold seed^ well fit for tlie deed, 
But of course a little bit flurried. 

lUd., May, 1852. 

SEEDY. At Yale College, rowdy, riotous, turbulent. 
Aiid snowballs, falling thick and fast 
As oaths from seedy Senior crowd. 

Yale Gallinipper, Nov. 1848. 
A seedy Soph beneath a tree. 

Yale Battery, Feb. 1850. 

2. Among English Cantabs, not well, out of sorts, done 
up ; the sort of feeling that a reading man has after an ex- 
amination, or a rowing man after a dinner with the Beefsteak 
Club. Also, silly, easy to perform. — Bristed. 

The owner of the apartment attired in a very old dressing-gown 
and slippers, half buried in an arm-chair, and looking what some 
young ladies call interesting, i. e. pale and seedy. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 151. 

You will seldom find anything very seedy set for Iambics. — 
Ihid., p. 182. 

SELL. An unexpected reply ; a deception or trick. 

In the Literary World, March 15, 1851, is the following 
explanation of this word : " Mr. Phillips's first introduction to 
Curran was made the occasion of a mystification, or practical 
joke, in which Irish wits have excelled since the time of Dean 
Swift, who was wont {vide his letters to Stella) to call these 
jocose tricks *a sell, from selling a bargain." The word 
hargain, however, which Johnson, in his Dictionary, defines 
"an unexpected reply tending to obscenity," was formerly 
used more generally among the English wits. The noun sell 
has of late been revived in this country, and is used to a cer- 
tain extent in New York and Boston, and especially among 
the students at Cambridge. 

I sought some hope to borrow, by thinking it a " sell,'^ 
By fancying it a fiction, my anguish to dispel. 

Poem hefore the ladma of Harv. Coll.., 1850, p. 8. 
SELL. To give an unexpected answer ; to deceive ; to cheat. 
For the love you bear me, never tell how badly I was sold. — 
Yale Lit Mag., Vol. XX. p. 94. 



AND CUSTOMS. 409 

The use of this verb is much more common in the United 
States than that of the noun of the same spelling, which is 
derived from it ; for instance, we frequently read in the news- 
papers that the Whigs or Democrats have been sold, i. e. de- 
feated in an election, or cheated in some political affair. The 
phrase to sell a hargam, which Bailey defines " to put a sham 
upon one," is now scarcely ever heard. It was once a favor- 
ite expression with certain English writers. 

Where sold lie hargcdns^ Whipstitch ? — Dryden. 

No maid at court is less ashamed, 
Howe'er for selling bargains famed. — Swift. 
Dr. Sheridan, famous for punning, intending to sell a bargain, 
said, he had made a very good pun. — Swift, Bons Mots de Stella. 

SEMESTER. Latin, semestris, sex, six, and mensis, month. 
In the German universities, a period or term of six months. 
The course of instruction occupies six semesters. Class dis- 
tinctions depend upon the number of semesters, not of years. 
During the first semester, the student is called Fox, in the 
second Burnt Fox, and then, successively, Young Bursch, 
Old Bursch, Old House, and Moss-covered Head. 

SENATE. In the University of Cambridge, England, the 
legislative body of the University. It is divided into two 
houses, called Regent and Non-Regent. The former con- 
sists of the vice-chancellor, proctors, taxors, moderators, and 
esquire-beadles, all masters of arts of less than five years' 
standing, and all doctors of divinity, civil law, and physic, of 
less than two, and is called the Upper House, or White- 
Hood House, from its members wearing hoods lined with 
white silk. The latter is composed of masters of arts of five 
years' standing, bachelors of divinity, and doctors in the three 
faculties of two years' standing, and is known as the Lower 
House, or Black-Hood House, its members wearing black 
silk hoods. To have a vote in the Senate, the graduate must 
keep his name on the books of some college (which involves 
a small annual payment), or in the list of the commorantes in 
villa.— Webster. Cam. Cal. Lit. World, Vol. XIL p. 283. 



410 COLLEGE WORDS 

2. At Union College, the members of the Senior Class form 
what is called the Senate, a body organized after the manner 
of the Senate of the United States, for the purpose of be- 
coming acquainted with the forms and practice of legislation. 
The members of the Junior Class compose the House of 
Representatives. The following account, showing in what 
manner the Senate is conducted, has been furnished by a 
member of Union College. 

" On the last Friday of the third term, the House of Rep- 
resentatives meet in their hall, and await their initiation to 
the Upper House. There soon appears a committee of three, 
who inform them by their chairman of the readiness of the 
Senate to receive them, and perhaps enlarge upon the im- 
portance of the coming trust, and the ability of the House to 
fill it. 

"When this has been done, the House, headed by the 
committee, proceed to the Senate Chamber (Senior Chapel), 
and are arranged by the committee around the President, the 
Senators (Seniors) meanwhile having taken the second floor. 
The President of the Senate then rises and delivers an appro- 
priate address, informing them of their new dignities and the 
grave responsibihties of their station. At the conclusion of 
this they take their seats, and proceed to the election of offi- 
cers, viz. a President, a Vice-President, Secretary, and Treas- 
urer. The President must be a member of the Faculty, and 
is chosen for a term ; the other officers are selected from the 
House, and continue in office but half a term. The first Vice- 
Presidency of the Senate is considered one of the highest 
honors conferred by the class, and great is the strife to ob- 
tain it. 

" The Senate meet again on the second Friday of the next 
term, when they receive the inaugural message of the Presi- 
dent. He then divides them into seven districts, each district 
including the students residing in a Section, or Hall of Col- 
lege, except the seventh, which is filled by the students lodg- 
ing in town. The Senate is also divided into a number of 
standing committees, as Law, Ethics, Political Economy. 



AND CUSTOMS. 411 

Business is referred to these committees, and reported on by 
them in the usual manner. The time of the Senate is prin- 
cipally occupied with the discussion of resolutions, in com- 
mittee of the whole ; and these discussions take the place of 
the usual Friday afternoon recitation. At Commencement 
the Senate have an orator of their own election, who must, 
however, have been a past or honorary member of their body. 
They also have a committee on the * Commencement Card.' " 

On the same subject, another correspondent writes as fol- 
lows : — 

" The Senate is composed of the Senior Class, and is in- 
tended as a school of parliamentary usages. The officers are 
a President, Vice-President, and Secretary, who are chosen 
once a term. At the close of the second term, the Junior 
Class are admitted into the Senate. They are introduced by 
a committee of Senators, and are expected to remain standing 
and uncovered during the ceremony, the President and Sena- 
tors being seated and covered. After a short address by the 
President, the old Senators leave the house, and the Juniors 
proceed to elect their officers for the third term. Dr. Thomas 
C. E-eed who was the founder of the Senate, was always 
elected President during his connection with the College, but 
rarely took his place in the chamber except at the introduc- 
tion of the Juniors. The Vice-President for the third term, 
who takes a part in the ceremonies of commencement, is con- 
sidered to hold the highest honor of the class, and his election 
is attended with more excitement than any other in the 
College." 

See Commencement Card ; House of Representa- 
tives. 

SENATE-HOUSE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
the building in which the public business of the University, 
such as examinations, the passing of graces, and admission to 
degrees, is carried on. — Cam. Guide. 

SENATUS ACADEMICUS. At Trinity College, Hartford, 
the Senatus Academicus consists of two houses, known as the 



412 COLLEGE WORDS 

Corporation and the House of Convocation, q. v. — 
Calendar Trin. Coll., 1850, p. 6. 
SENE. An abbreviation for Senior. 

Magnificent Juns, and lazy Series. 

Yale Banger, Nov. 10, 1846. 
A rare young blade is tlie gallant Sene. 

lUd., Nov. 1850. 
SENIOE. One in the fourth year of his collegiate course at 
an American college ; originally called Senior Sophister. 
Also one in the third year of his course at a theological 
seminary. — Webster. 
See Sophister. 
SENIOR. Notmg the fourth year of the collegiate course in 
American colleges, or the third year in theological semi- 
naries. — Wehster. 
SENIOR BACHELOR. One who is in his third year after 
taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. It is further explained 
by President Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse : " Bache- 
lors were called Senior, Middle, or Junior Bachelors, accord- 
ing to the year since graduation and before taking the degree 
of Master." — p. 122. 
SENIOR CLASSIC. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
the student who passes best in the voluntary examination in 
classics, which follows the last required examination in the 
Senate-House. 

No one stands a chance for Senior Classic alongside of him. 
— Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 55. 

Two men who had been rivals all the way through school and 
through college were racing for Senior Classic. — Ibid., p. 253. 

SENIOR FELLOW. At Trinity College, Hartford, the 
Senior Fellow is a person chosen to attend the college exami- 
nations during the year. 

SENIOR FRESHMAN. The name of the second of the 
four classes into which undergraduates are divided at Trinity 
College, Dublin. 

SENIORITY. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the 



AND CUSTOMS. 413 

eight Senior Fellows and the Master of a college compose 
what is called the Seniority. Their decisions in all matters 
are generally conclusive. 

My duty now obliges me, however reluctantly, to bring you be- 
fore the Seniority. — Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 75. 

SENIOR OPTIME. Those who occupy the second rank in 
honors at the close of the final examination at the University 
of Cambridge, Eng., are denominated Senior Optimes. 

The Second Class, or that of Senior Optimes^ is larger in number 
[than that of the Wranglers], usually exceeding forty, and some- 
times reaching above sixty. Iliis class contains a number of dis- 
appointments, many who expect to be Wranglers, and some who 
are generally expected to be. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 228. 

The word is frequently abbreviated. 

The Pembroker had the pleasant prospect of getting up all 

his mathematics for a place among the Senior Ops. — lUd., p. 158. 

He would get just questions enough to make him a low Senior 
Op. — Ibid., p. 222. 

SENIOR ORATION. "The custom of delivering Senior 
Orations" says a correspondent, " is, I think, confined to 
Washington and Jefferson Colleges in Pennsylvania. Each 
member of the Senior Class, taking them in alphabetical or- 
der, is required to deliver an oration before graduating, and 
on such nights as the Faculty may decide. The public are 
invited to attend, and the speaking is continued at appointed 
times, until each member of the Class has spoken." 

SENIOR SOPHISTER. At the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., a student in the third year of his residence is called a 
Senior Soph or Sophister. 

2. In some American colleges, a member of the Senior 
Class, i. e. of the fourth year, was formerly designated a 
Senior Sophister. 
See Sophister. 

SENIOR WRANGLER. In the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., the Senior Wrangler is the student who passes the best 
35* 



414 COLLEGE WORDS 

examination in the Senate-House, and by consequence holds 
the first place on the Mathematical Tripos. 

The only road to classical honors and their accompanying emol- 
uments in the University, and virtually in all the Colleges, except 
Trinity, is through mathematical honors, all candidates for the Clas- 
sical Tripos being obliged as a preliminary to obtain a place in that 
mathematical list which is headed by the Senior Wrangler and 
tailed by the Wooden Spoon. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 34. 

SEQUESTER. To cause to retire or withdraw into obscurity. 
In the following passage it is used in the collegiate sense of 
suspend or rusticate. 

Though they were adulti, they were corrected in the College, 
and sequestered, &c. for a time. — Wintlirop's Journal, hy Savage, 
VoL II. p. 88. 

SERVITOR. Li the University of Oxford, an undergraduate 
who is partly supported by the college funds. Servitors for- 
merly waited at table, but this is now dispensed with. The 
order similar to that of the servitor was at Cambridge styled 
the order of Sub-sizars. This has been long extinct. The 
sizar at Cambridge is at present nearly equivalent to the 
Oxford servitor. — Gejit. Mag., 1787, p. 1146. Brande. 

" It ought to be known," observes De Quincey, " that the 
class of ' servitors^ once a large body in Oxford, have grad- 
ually become practically extinct under the growing liber- 
ality of the age. They carried in their academic dress a 
mark of their inferiority ; they waited at dinner on those of 
higher rank, and performed other menial services, humiliat- 
ing to themselves, and latterly felt as no less humiliating to 
the general name and interests of learning." — Life and Man- 
ners, p. 272. 

A reference to the cruel custom of " hunting the servitor " 
is to be found in Sir John Hawkins's Life of Dr. Johnson, 
p. 12. 

SESSION. At some of the Southern and Western colleges of 
the United States, the time during which instruction is reg- 
ularly given to the students ; a term. 



AND CUSTOMS. 415 

The session commences on the 1st of October, and contmues with- 
out interruption untU the 29th of June. — Cat. of Univ. of Vir- 
ginia, 1851, p. 15. 

SEVENTY-EIGHTH PSALM. The recollections which 
cluster around this Psalm, so well known to all the Alumni 
of Harvard, are of the most pleasant nature. For more 
than a hundred years, it has been sung at the dinner given 
on Commencement day at Cambridge, and for more than a 
half-century to the tune of St. Martin's. Mr. Samuel Shap- 
leigh, who graduated at Harvard College in the year 1789, 
and who was afterwards its Librarian, on the leaf of a hymn- 
book makes a memorandum in reference to this Psalm, to the 
effect that it has been sung at Cambridge on Commencement 
day "from time immemorial." The late Rev. Dr. John 
Pierce, a graduate of the class of 1793, referring to the 
same subject, remarks : " The Seventy-eighth Psalm, it is 
supposed, has, from the foundation of the College, been sung 
in the common version of the day." Li a poem, entitled 
Education, delivered at Cambridge before the Phi Beta Kappa 

. Society, by Mr. Wilham Biglow, July 18th, 1799, speaking 
of the conduct and manners of the students, the author says : — 
" Like pigs they eat, they drink an ocean dry, 
They steal like France, like Jacobins they lie, 
They raise the very Devil, when called to prayers, 
' To sons transmit the same, and they again to theirs ' " ; 

and, in explanation of the last line, adds this note : " Allud- 
ing to the Psalm which is always sung in Harvard Hall on 
Commencement day." Li his account of some of the exer- 
cises attendant upon the Commencement at Harvard College 
in 1848, Professor Sidney Willard observes: "At the Com- 
mencement dinner the sitting is not of long duration ; and we 
retired from table soon after the singing of the Psalm, which, 
with some variation in the version, has been sung on the same 
occasion from time immemorial." — Memoirs of Youth and 
Manhood, Vol. IL p. 65. 

But that we cannot take these accounts as correct in their 
full extent, appears from an entry in the MS. Diary of Chief 



416 COLLEGE WORDS 

Justice Sewall relating to a Commencement in 1685, which 
he closes with these words : " After Dinner y^ 3d part of y® 
lOod Ps. was sung in y^ Hall." 

In the year 1793, at the dinner on Commencement Day, 
the Rev. Joseph Willard, then President of the College, re- 
quested Mr. afterwards Dr. Jolin Pierce, to set the tune to 
the Psalm ; with which request having complied to the sat- 
isfaction of all present, he from that period until the time of 
his death, in 1849, performed this service, being absent only 
on one occasion. Those who have attended Commencement 
dinners during the latter part of this period cannot but asso- 
ciate with this hallowed Psalm the venerable appearance and 
the benevolent countenance of this excellent man. 

In presenting a list of the different versions in which this 
Psalm has been sung, it must not be supposed that entire 
correctness has been reached ; the very scanty accounts 
which remain render this almost impossible, but from these, 
which on a question of greater importance might be con- 
sidered hardly sufficient, it would appear that the following 
are the versions in which the sons of Harvard have been ac- 
customed to sing the Psalm of the son of Jesse. 

1. — The New England Version. 
"In 1639 there was an agreement amo. y^ Magistrates 
and Ministers to set aside y® Psahns then printed at y^ end 
of their Bibles, and sing one more congenial to their ideas 
of religion." Rev. Mr. Richard Mather of Dorchester, and 
Rev. Mr. Thomas "Weld and Rev. Mr. John Eliot of Rox- 
bury, were selected to make a metrical translation, to whom 
the Rev. Thomas Shepard of Cambridge gives the following 
metrical caution : — 

" Ye Roxbury poets, keep clear of y^ crime 
Of missing to give us very good rhyme, 
And you of Dorchester, your verses lengthen, 
But with the texts own words you will y™ strengthen." 

The version of this ministerial trio was printed in the year 
1640, at Cambridge, and has the honor of bemg the first pro- 



AND CUSTOMS. 417 

duction of the North American press that rises to the dignity 
of a hooh. It was entitled, " The Psahns newly turned into 
Metre." A second edition was printed in 1647. "It was 
more to be commended, however," says IMr. Peirce, in his 
History of Harvard University, " for its fidelity to the text, 
than for the elegance of its versification, which, having been 
executed by persons of different tastes and talents, was not 
only very uncouth, but deficient in uniformity. President 
Dunster, who was an excellent Oriental scholar, and pos- 
sessed the other requisite qualifications for the task, was em- 
ployed to revise and polish it ; and in two or three years, 
with the assistance of Mr. Richard Lyon, a young gentleman 
who was sent from England by Sir Henry Mildmay to attend 
his son, then a student in Harvard College, he produced a 
work, which, under the appellation of the ' Bay Psalm-Book,' 
was, for a long time, the received version in the New England 
congregations, was also used in many societies in England 
and Scotland, and passed through a great number of editions, 
both at home and abroad." — p. 14. 

The Seventy-eighth Psalm is thus rendered in the first 
edition : — 

Give listning eare unto my law, 

Yee people that are mine, 
Unto the sayings of my mouth 

Doe yee your eare incline. 

My mouth I 'le ope in parables, 

I 'le speak hid things of old : 
Which we have heard, and knowne : and which 

Our fathers have us told. 

Them from their children wee '1 not hide, 

To th' after age shewing 
The Lords prayses ; his strength, and works 

Of his wondrous doing. 

In Jacob he a witnesse set, 

And put in Israeli 
A law, which he our fathers charg'd 

They should their children tell : 



418 COLLEGE WORDS 

That th' age to come, and children •which 

Are to be borne might know ; 
That they might rise up and the same 

Unto their children show. 

That they upon the mighty God 

Their confidence might set : 
And Gods works and his commandment 

Might keep and not forget, 

And might not like their fathers be, 

A stiffe, stout race ; a race 
That set not right their hearts : nor firme 

With God their spirit was. 

The Bay Psahn-Book underwent many changes in the 
various editions through which it passed, nor was this psalm 
left untouched, as will be seen by referring to the twenty- 
sixth edition, published in 1744, and to the edition of 1758, 
revised and corrected, with additions, by Mr. Thomas Prince. 

2. — Watts' s Version. 
The Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Isaac "Watts were first 
published in this country by Dr. Frankhn, in the year 1741._ 
His version is as follows ; — 

Let children hear the mighty deeds % 

Which God performed of old ; 
Which in our younger years we saw, 

And which our fathers told. 

He bids us make his glories known, 

His works of power and grace, 
And we '11 convey his wonders down 

Through every rising race. 

Our lips shall tell them to our sons, 

And they again to theirs. 
That generations yet unborn 

May teach them to their heirs. 

Thus shall they learn in God alone 

Their hope securely stands, 
That they may ne'er forget his works, 

But practise his commands. 



AND CUSTOMS. 419 

3. — Brady and Tate's Version. 
In the year 1803, the Seventy-eighth Psalm was first 
printed on a small sheet and placed under every plate, which 
practice has since been always adopted. The version of that 
year was from Brady and Tate's collection, first published in 
London in 1698, and in this country about the year 1739. 
It was sung to the tune of St. Martin's in 1805, as appears 
from a memorandum in ink on the back of one of the sheets 
for that year, which reads, " Sung in the hall, Commence- 
ment Day, tune St. Martin's, 1805." From the statements 
of graduates of the last century, it seems that this had been 
the customary tune for some time previous to this year, and 
it is still retained as a precious legacy of the past. St. Mar- 
tin's was composed by WilHam Tans'ur in the year 1735. 
The following is the version of Brady and Tate : — 

Hear, O my people ; to my law 

Devout attention lend ; 
Let the instruction of my mouth 

Deep in your hearts descend. 

My tongue, by inspiration taught, 

Shall parables unfold, 
Dark oracles, but understood, 

And owned for truths of old ; 

Wliich we from sacred registers 

Of ancient times have known, 
And our forefathers' pious care 

To us has handed doivn. 

We will not hide them from our sons ; 

Our offspring shall be taught 
The praises of the Lord, whose strength 

Has works of wonders wrought. 

For Jacob he this law ordained, 

This league with Israel made ; 
With charge, to be from age to age, 

From race to race, conveyed, 

That generations yet to come 
Should to their unborn heirs 



420 



COLLEGE WOKDS 

Keligiously transmit the same, 
And they again to theirs. 

To teach them that in God alone 
Their hope securely stands ; 

That they should ne'er his works forget, 
But keep his just commands. 



4. — From Belknap's Collection. 
This coUection was first published by the Rev. Dr. Jeremy 
Belknap, at Boston, iu 1795. The version of the Seventy- 
eighth Psalm is partly from that of Brady and Tate, and 
partly from Dr. Watts's, with a few slight variations. It 
succeeded the version of Brady and Tate about the year 
1820, and is the one which is now used. The first three 
stanzas were written by Brady aad Tate ; the last three by 
Dr. Watts. It has of late been customary to omit the last 
stanza in singing and in printing. 

Give ear, ye children ; * to my law 
Devout attention lend ; % 

• Let the instructions f of my mouth 
Deep in your hearts descend. 

My tongue, by inspiration taught, 

Shall parables unfold ; 
Dark oracles, but understood, 

And owned for truths of old ; 

Which we from sacred registers 

Of ancient times have known. 
And our forefathers' pious care 

To us has handed down. 

Let children learn J the mighty deeds 

Which God performed of old ; 
Which, in our younger years we saw. 

And which our fathers told. 



* In Brady and Tate, " Hear, O my people." 
t In Brady and Tate, " instruction." 
I Watts, " hear." 



AND CUSTOMS. 421 

Our lips shall tell them to our sons, 

And they again to theirs ; 
That generations yet unborn 

May teach them to their heirs. 

Thus shall they learn in God alone 

Their hope securely stands ; 
That they may ne'er forget his works, 
But practise his commands. 
It has been supposed by some that the version of the 
Seventy-eighth Psalm by Sternhold and Hopkins, whose 
spiritual songs were usually printed, as appears above, " at 
y^ end of their Bibles," was the first which was sung at Com- 
mencement dinners ; but this does not seem at all probable, 
since the first Commencement at Cambridge did not take 
place until 1642, at which time the " Bay Psalm-Book," 
written by three of the most popular ministers of the day, 
had already been published two years. 
SHADY. Among students at the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., an epithet of depreciation, equivalent to Mild and 
Slow. — Bristed. 

Some are rather shady in Greek and Latin. — Bristed' s Five 

Years in an Eng. Univ.^ Ed. 2d, p. 147. 

My performances on the Latin verse paper were very sliady. — 
lUd., p. 191. 

SHARK. Li student language, an absence from a recitation, 
a lecture, or from prayers, prompted by recklessness rather 
than by necessity, is called a shark. He who is absent under 
these circumstances is also known as a shark. 
The Monitors' task is now quite done, 
They 've pencilled all their marks, 
" Othello's occupation 's gone," — 
No more look out for sharks. 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 45. 

SHEEPSKIN. The parchment diploma received by students 

on taking their degree at college. " In the back settlements 

are many clergymen who have not had the advantages of a 

liberal education, and who consequently have no diplomas. 

36 



422 COLLEGE WORDS 

Some of these look upon their more favored brethren with a 
little envy. A clergyman is said to have a sheepskin, or to 
be a sheepsldn, when educated at college." — Bartletfs Diet, 
of Americanisms. 

This apostle of ourn never rubbed Ms back agin a college, nor 

toted about no sheepskins, — no, never! How you'd a 

perished in your sins, if the first preachers had stayed till they got 
sheepskins. — Carlton's New Purchase. 

I can say as well as the best on them sheepskins, if you don't get 
religion and be saved, you '11 be lost, teetotally and for ever. — 
(^Sermon of an Itinerant Preacher at a Camp Meeting.') — Ihid. 

As for John Prescot, he not only lost the valedictory, but barely 
escaped with his " sheepskin." — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. X. p. 74. 

That handsome Senior .... receives his sheepskin from the dis- 
pensing hand of our worthy Prex. — Ibid., Vol. XIX. p. 355. 
When first I saw a " Sheepskin," 
In Prex's hand I spied it. 

Yale Coll. Song. 

We came to college fresh and green, — ^ 

We go back home with a huge sheepskin. 

So7igs of Yale, 1853, p. 43. 

SHIN. To tease or hector a person by kicking his shins. In 
some colleges this is one of the means which the Sophomores 
adopt to torment the Freshmen, especially when playing at 
football, or other similar games. 

We have been shinned, smoked, ducked, and accelerated by the 
encouraging shouts of our generous friends. — Yale Banger, Nov. 
10, 1846. 

SHINE. At Harvard College this word was formerly used to 
designate a good recitation. Used in the phrase, " to make 
a shine." 

SHINNY. At Princeton College, the game of Shinny, known 
also by the names of Hawhy and Hiirly, is as great a favorite 
with the students as is football at other colleges. " The play- 
ers," says a correspondent, " are each furnished with a stick 
four or five feet in length and one and a half or two inches 
in diameter, curved at one end, the object of which is to give 
the ball a surer blow. The ball is about three inches in di- 



I 



AND CUSTOMS. 423 

ameter, bound with thick leather. The players are divided 
into two parties, arranged along from one goal to the other. 
The ball is then ' huched ' by two players, one from each side, 
which is done by one of these two taking the ball and asking 
his opponent which he will have, ' high or low ' ; if he says 
* high,' the ball is thrown up midway between them ; if he 
says ' low,' the ball is thrown on the ground. The game is 
opened by a scuffle between these two for the ball. The 
other players then join in, one party knocking towards North 
College, which is one ' home ' (as it is termed), and the other 
towards the fence bounding the south side of the Campus, 
the other home. Whichever party first gets the ball home 
wins the game. A grand contest takes place annually be- 
tween the Juniors and Sophomores, in this game." 
SHIP. Among collegians, one expelled from college is said to 
be shipped. 

For I, you know, am but a college minion, 
But still, you '11 all be shipped, in my opinion, 
When brought before Conventus Facultatis. 

Yale Tomahawk, May, 1852. 
He may be overhauled, warned, admonished, dismissed, shipped, 
rusticated, sent off, suspended. — Burlesque Catalogue, Yale Coll., 
1852 -53, p. 25. 

SHIPWRECK. Among students, a total failure. 

His university course has been a shipwreck, and he will probably 

end by going out unnoticed among the noWoL — Bristed's Five 

Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 56. 
SHORT-EAR. At Jefferson College, Penn., a soubriquet for 

a roistering, noisy fellow ; a rowdy. Opposed to long-ear. 

SHORT TERM. At Oxford, Eng., the extreme duration of 
residence in any college is under thirty weeks. " It is pos- 
sible to keep 'sJiort terms^ as the phrase is, by residence of 
thirteen weeks, or ninety-one days." — De Quincey's Life 
and Manners, p. 274. 

SIDE. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the set of pupils 
belonging to any one particular tutor is called his side. 



424 COLLEGE WORDS 

A longer discourse he will perhaps have to listen to with the rest 
of his side. — Westminster Rev., Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 231. 

A large college has usually two tutors, — Trinity has three, — 
and the students are equally divided among them, — on their sides 
the phrase is. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ.., Ed. 2d, 
p. 11. 

SILVER CUP. At Trinity College, Hartford, this is a tes- 
timonial voted by each graduating class to the first legitimate 
boy whose father is a member of the class. 

At Yale College, a theory of this kind prevails, but it has 
never yet been carried into practice. 

I tell you what, my classmates, 

My mind it is made up, 
I 'm coming back three years from this, 

To take that silver cup. 
I '11 bring along the " requisite," 

A little white-haired lad, 
With " bib " and fixings all complete, 

And I shall be his " dad." 

Presentation Day Songs, June 14, 1854. 
See Class Cup. 

SIM. Abbreviated from Siineonite. A nickname given by 
the rowing men at the University of Cambridge, Eng., to 
evangelicals, and to all religious men, or even quiet men 
generally. 

While passing for a terribly hard reading man, and a " Sim " of 
the straitest kind with the " empty bottles," I was fast laps- 
ing into a state of literary sensualism. — Bristed's Five Years in an 
Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, pp. 39, 40. 

SIR. It was formerly the fashion in the older American col- 
leges to call a Bachelor of Arts, Sir ; this was sometimes 
done at the time when the Seniors were accepted for that 
degree. 

Voted, Sept. 5th, 1763, "that Sir Sewall, B. A., be the In- 
structor in the Hebrew and other learned languages for three 
years." — Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., p. 234. 

December, 1790. Some time in this month, Sir Adams resigned 



AND CUSTOMS. 425 

the berth of Butler, and Sir Samuel Shapleigh was chosen in his 
stead. — MS. Journal, Haru. Coll. 

Then succeeded Cliosophic Oration in Latin, by Sir Meigs. 
Poetical Composition in English, by Sir Barlow. — Woolsei/'s Hist. 
Disc.^ p. 121. 

The author resided in Cambridge after he graduated. In com- 
mon with all who had received the degree of Bachelor of Arts and 
not that of Master of Arts, he was called " Sir," and known as 
" Sir Seccomb." 

Some of the ^' Sirs" as well as undergraduates were arraigned 
before the college government. — Father Ahheijs Will, Cambridge, 
Mass., 1854, p. 7. 

SITTING OF THE SOLSTICES. It was customary, in 
the early days of Harvard College, for the graduates of the 
year to attend in the recitation-room on Mondays and Tues- 
days, for three weeks, during the month of June, subject to 
the examination of all who chose to visit them. This was 
called the Sitting of the Solstices, because it happened in 
midsummer, or at the time of the summer solstice. The 
time was also known as the Weelcs of Visitation. 

SIZAR, ^ In the University of Cambridge, Eng., a student 
SISAR, > of the third rank, or that next below that of a pen- 
SIZER. ) sioner, who eats at the public table after the fellows, 
free of expense. It was formerly customary for everj fellow- 
commoner to have his sizar, to whom he allowed a certain 
portion of commons, or victuals and drink, weekly, but no 
money ; and for this the sizar was obliged to do him certain 
services daily. 

A lower order of students were called sub-sizars. In ref- 
erence to this class, we take the following from the Gentle- 
man's Magazine, 1787, p. 1146. "At King's College, they 
were styled hounds. The situation of a sub-sizar being 
looked upon in so degrading a light probably occasioned the 
extinction of the order. But as the sub-sizars had certain 
assistances in return for their humiliating services, and as the 
poverty of parents stood in need of such assistances for their 
sons, some of the sizars undertook the same offices for the 
36* 



426 COLLEGE WORDS 

same advantages. The master's sizar, therefore, waited upon 
him for the sake of his commons, etc., as the sub-sizar had 
done ; and the other sizars did the same office to the fellows 
for the advantage of the remains of their commons. Thus the 
term sub-sizar became forgotten, and the sizar was supposed 
to be the same as the servitor. But if a sizar did not choose 
to accept of these assistances upon such degrading terms, he 
dined in his own room, and was called a proper sizar. He 
wore the same gown as the others, and his tutorage, etc. was 
no higher; but there was nothing servile in his situation." 
— " Now, indeed, all (or almost all) the colleges in Cam- 
bridge have allowed the sizars every advantage of the re- 
mains of the fellows' commons, etc., though they have very 
liberally exempted them from every servile office." 

Another writer in the same periodical, 1795, p. 21, says : 
The sizar " is very much like the scholars at Westminster, 
Eton, &c., who are on the foundation; and is, in a manner, 
the half-hoarder in private academies. The name was de- 
rived from the menial services in which he was occasionally 
engaged ; being in former days compelled to transport the 
plates, dishes, sizes, and platters, to and from the tables of 
his superiors." 

A writer in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, at the close of 
the article Sizar, says of this class : " But though their edu- 
cation is thus obtained at a less expense, they are not now 
considered as a menial order ; for sizars, pensioner-scholars, 
and even sometimes fellow-commoners, mix together with the 
utmost cordiality." 

" Sizars," says Bristed, " answer to the beneficiaries of 
American colleges. They receive pecuniary assistance from 
the college, and dine gratis after the fellows on the remains 
of their table. These ' remains ' are very liberally construed, 
the sizar always having fresh vegetables, and frequently 
fresh tarts and puddings." — Five Years in an Eng, Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 14 
SIZE. Food and drink from the buttery, aside from the regu- 
lar dinner at commons. 



AND CUSTOMS. 427 

" A 5^2'e," says Minsheu, " is a portion of bread or drinke, 
it is a farthing which schoUers in Cambridge have at the 
buttery ; it is noted with the letter S. as in Oxford with the 
letter Q. for halfe a farthing ; and whereas they say in Ox- 
ford, to battle in the Buttery Booke, i. e. to set downe on 
their names what they take in bread, drinke, butter, cheese, 
&c. ; so, in Cambridge, they say, to size, i. e. to set downe 
their quantum, i. e. how much they take on their name in the 
Buttery Booke." 

In the Poems of the Eev. Dr. Dodd, a size of bread is 
described as " half a half-penny * roll.' " Grose, also, in the 
Provincial Glossary, says " it signifies the half part of a half- 
penny loaf, and comes from scindo, I cut." 

In the Encyclopaedia Britannica is the following explana- 
tion of this term. "A size of anything is the smallest 
quantity of that thing which can be thus bought " [i. e. by 
students in addition to their commons in the hall] ; " two 
sizes, or a part of beef, being nearly equal to what a young 
person will eat of that dish to his dinner, and a size of ale or 
beer being equal to half an English pint." It would seem, 
then, that formerly a size was a small plateful of any eat- 
able ; the word now means anything had by students at 
dinner over and above the usual commons. 

Of its derivation Webster remarks, "Either contracted 
from assize, or from the Latin scissus. I take it to be from 
the former, and from the sense of setting, as we apply the 
word to the assize of bread." 

This word was introduced into the older American col- 
leges from Cambridge, England, and was used for many 
years, as was also the word sizing, with the same meaning. 
In 1750, the Corporation of Harvard College voted, " that 
the quantity of commons be as hath been usual, viz. two 
sizes of bread in the morning ; one pound of meat at dinner, 
with sufficient sauce [vegetables], and a half-pint of beer ; 
and at night that a part pie be of the same quantity as usual, 
and also half a pint of beer ; and that the supper messes be 
but of four parts, though the dinner messes be of six." — 
Quincy's Hist Harv. Coll, Vol. II. p. 97. 



428 COLLEGE WORDS 

The students of that day, if we may judge from the ac- 
counts which we have of their poor commons, would have 
used far different words, in addressing the Faculty, from King 
Lear, who, speaking to his daughter Eegan, says : — 

" 'T is not in thee 

To grudge my pleasures, 

to scant my sizes" 

SIZE. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., to size is to 
order any sort of victuals from the kitchens which the stu- 
dents may want in their rooms, or in addition to their com- 
mons in the hall, and for which they pay the cooks or butchers 
at the end of each quarter ; a word corresponding to Battel 
at Oxford. — Encyc. Brit. 

In the Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, p. 21, a writer says : 
" At dinner, to size is to order for yourself any little luxury 
that may chance to tempt you in addition to the general fare, 
for which you are expected to pay the cook at the end of 
the term." 

This word was formerly used in the older American col- 
leges with the meaning given above, as will be seen by the 
following extracts from the laws of Harvard and Yale. 

" When they come into town after commons, they may be 
allowed to size a meal at the kitchen." — Laws ofHarv. Coll., 
1798, p. 89. 

" At the close of each quarter, the Butler shall make up 
his bill against each student, in which every article sized or 
taken up by him at the Buttery shall be particularly charged." 
— Laws Yale Coll., 1811, p. 31. 

"As a college term," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, 
" it is of very considerable antiquity. In the comedy called 
'The Return from Parnassus,' 1606, one of the characters 
says, ' You that are one of the Devil's Fellow-Commoners ; 
one that sizeth the Devil's butteries,' &c. Again, in the 
same : ' Fidlers, I use to size my music, or go on the score 
for it.'" 

For is often used after the verb size, without changing the 
meaning of the expression. 



AND CUSTOMS.' 429 

The tables of the Undemraduates, arranojed accordmi? to their 
respective years, are supplied with abundance of plain joints, and 
vegetables, and beer and ale ad libitum, besides which, soup, pastry, 
and cheese can be " sized for" that is, brought in portions to in- 
dividuals at an extra charge. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 19. 

To size upon another. To order extra food, and. without 
permission charge it to another's account. 

If any one shall size upon another, he shall be fined a Shilling, 
and pay the Damage ; and every Freshman sent [for victuals] 
must declare that he who sends him is the only Person to be 
charged. — Laws Yale Coll., 1774, p. 10. 

SIZING. Extra food or drink ordered from the buttery ; the 
act of ordering extra food or drink from the buttery. 

Dr. Holyoke, who graduated at Harvard College in 1746, 
says : " The breakfast was two sizings of bread and a cue of 
beer." Judge Wingate, who graduated a little later, says : 
" We were allowed at dinner a cue of beer, which was a 
half-pint, and a sizing of bread, which I cannot describe to 
you. It was quite sufficient for one dinner." — Peirce's 
Hist. Harv. Univ., p. 219. 

From more definite accounts it would seem that a sizing 
of biscuit was one biscuit, and a sizing of cracker, two 
crackers. A certain amount of food was allowed to each 
mess, and if any person wanted more than the allowance, it 
was the custom to tell the waiter to bring a sizing of what- 
ever was wished, provided it was obtained from the commons 
kitchen ; for this payment was made at the close of the term. 
A sizing of cheese was nearly an ounce, and a sizing of cider 
varied from a half-pint to a pint and a half. 

The Steward shall, at the close of every quarter, immediately fill 
up the columns of commons and sizings, and shall deliver the bill, 
kc. — Laws Harv. Coll., 1798, p. 58. 

The Butler shall frequently inspect his book of sizings. — Ibid. , 
p. 62. 

Whereas young scholars, to the dishonor of God, hinderance of 
their studies, and damage of their friends' estate, inconsiderately 



430 COLLEGE WORDS 

and intemperately are ready to abuse their liberty of sizing besides 
their commons ; therefore the Steward shall in no case permit any 
students whatever, under the degree of Masters of Arts, or Fel- 
lows, to expend or be provided for themselves or any townsmen 
any extraordinary commons, unless by the allowance of the Presi- 
dent, &c., or in case of sickness. — Orders written 28th March, 
1650.— Quina/s Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 583. 

This term, together with the verb and noun size, which 
had been in use at Harvard and Yale Colleges since their 
foundation, has of late been little heard, and with the extinc- 
tion of commons has, with the others, fallen wholly, and prob- 
ably for ever, into disuse. 

The use of this word and its collaterals is still retained in 
the University of Cambridge, Eng. 

Along the wall you see two tables, which, though less carefully 
provided than the Fellows', are still served with tolerable decency, 
and go through a regular second course instead of the " sizings." — 
Bristed's Five Yeaj^s in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 20. 

SIZING PARTY. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
where this term is used, a " sizing party,'^ says the Gradus 
ad Cantabrigiam, " differs from a supper in this ; viz. at a 
sizing party every one of the guests contributes his part, i. e. 
orders what he pleases, at his own expense, to his friend's 
rooms, — ' a part of fowl ' or duck ; a roasted pigeon ; * a part 
of apple pie.' A sober beaker of brandy, or rum, or hoUands 
and water, concludes the entertainment. In our days, a bowl 
of bishop, or milk punch, with a chant, generally winds up 
the carousal." 

SKIN. At Yale College, to obtain a knowledge of a lesson by 
hearing it read by another ; also, to borrow another's ideas 
and present them as one's own ; to plagiarize ; to become 
possessed of information in an examination or a recitation by 
unfair or secret means. " In our examinations," says a cor- 
respondent, " many of the fellows cover the palms of their 
hands ^vith dates, and when called upon for a given date, they 
read it off directly from their hands. Such persons skin." 
The tutor employs the crescent when it is evident that the lesson 



AND CUSTOMS. 431 

has been skinned, according to the college vocabulary, in which case 
he usually puts a minus sign after it, with the mark which he in all 
probability would have used had not the lesson been skinned. — 
Yale Banger, Nov. 1846. 

Never skin a lesson which it requires any ability to learn . — 
Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XV. p. 81. 

He has passively admitted what he has skinned from other gram- 
marians. — Yale Banger, Nov. 1846. 

Perhaps the youth who so barefacedly skinned the song referred 
to, fondly fancied, &c. — The Tomahawk, Nov. 1849. 

He uttered that remarkable prophecy which Horace has so boldly 
skinned and called his own. — Burial of Euclid, Nov. 1850. 

A Pewter medal is awarded in the Senior Class, for the most re- 
markable example of skinned Composition. — Burlesque Catalogue, 
Yale Coll., 1852 - 53, p. 29. 

Classical men were continually tempted to " skin " (copy) the 
solutions of these examples. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 381. 

To skin ahead ; at Hamilton College, to read a lesson over 
in the class immediately before reciting. 
SKIN. A lesson learned by hearing it read by another ; bor- 
rowed ideas ; anything plagiarized. 

'T was plenty of skin with a good deal of Bohn.* 

Songs, Biennial Jubilee, Yale Coll., 1855. 

SKINNING. Learning, or the act of learning, a lesson by 
hearing it read by another ; plagiarizing. 

Alas for our beloved orations ! acquired by skinning, looking on, 
and ponies. — Yale Banger, Oct. 1848. 

Barefaced copying from books and reviews in their compositions 
is familiar to our students, as much so as " skinning " their mathe- 
matical examples. — BrisiexVs Five Years in an Eng. Univ.,Yldi. 
2d, p. 394. 

SKUNK. At Princeton College, to fail to pay a debt ; used 
actively ; e. g. to shimh a tailor, i. e. not to pay him. 

SLANG. To scold, chide, rebuke. The use of this word as a 
verb is in a measure peculiar to students, 

* See BoHX, 



432 COLLEGE WORDS 

These drones are posted separately as " not wortliy to be classed," 
and privately slanged afterwards by the Master and Seniors. — 
Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 74. 

" I am afraid of going to T ," you may hear it said ; " he 

don't slang his men enough." — Ihid., p. 148. 

His vanity is sure to be speedily checked, and first of all by his 
private tutor, who " slangs " him for a mistake here or an inele- 
gancy there. — lUd., p. 388. 

SLANGING. Abusing, chiding, blaming. 

As he was not backward in slanging, — one of the i equisites of a 
good coach, — he would give it to my unfortunate composition right 
and left. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 166. 

SLEEPING OVER. A phrase equivalent to being absent 
from prayers. 

You may see some who have just arisen from their beds, where 
they have enjoyed the luxury o^ '■'' sleeping over." — Harv. Reg.^ 
p. 202. 

SLOW. An epithet of depreciation, especially among students. 
Its equivalent slang is to be found in the phrases, " no great 
shakes," and " small potatoes." -— Bristed, 

One very well disposed and very tipsy man who was great upon 
boats, but very slow at books, endeavored to pacify me. — Bristed's 
Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 32. 

The Juniors vainly attempted to show 
That Sophs and Seniors were somewhat slow 
In talent and ability. 

SopJiomore Independent, Union College, Nov. 1854. 

SLOW-COACH. A dull, stupid fellow. 

SLUM. A word once in use at Yale College, of which a grad- 
uate of the year 1821 has given the annexed explanation. 
" That noted dish to which our predecessors, of I know not 
what date, gave the name of slum, which was our ordinary 
breakfast, consisting of the remains of yesterday's boiled salt- 
beef and potatoes, hashed up, and indurated in a frying-pan, 
was of itself enough to have produced any amount of dys- 
pepsia. There are stomachs, it may be, which can put up 
with any sort of food, and any mode of cookery ; but they 



AND CUSTOMS. 433 

are not those of students. I remember an anecdote which 
President Day gave us (as an instance of hasty generaliza- 
tion), which would not be inappropriate here : 'A young phy- 
sician, commencing practice, determined to keep an account of 
each case he had to do with, stating the mode of treatment 
and the result. His first patient was a blacksmith, sick of a 
fever. After the crisis of the disease had passed, the man 
expressed a hankering for pork and cabbage. The doctor 
humored him in this, and it seemed to do him good ; which 
was duly noted in the record. Next a tailor sent for him, 
whom he found suffering from the same malady. To him 
he prescribed pork and cabbage ; and the patient died. Where- 
upon, he wrote it down as a general law in such cases, that 
pork and cabbage will cure a blacksmith, but will kill a tailor.' 
Now, though the son of Vulcan found the pork and cabbage 
harmless, I am sure that slum would have been a match for 
him." — Scenes and Characters at College, New Haven, 1847, 
p. 117. 

SLUMP. German schlump ; Danish and Swedish slump, a 
hap or chance, an accident ; that is, a fall. 
At Harvard College, a poor recitation. 

SLUMP. At Harvard College, to recite badly; to make a 
poor recitation. 

In fact, he 'd rather dead than dig ; he 'd rather slump than squirt. 
Poem lefore the Y. H. of Ear v. Coll, 1849. 

Slumping is his usual custom, 
Deading is his road to fame. — MS. Poem. 

At recitations, unprepared, he slumps.. 

Then cuts a week, and feigns he has the mumps. 

MS. Poem, by F. E. Felton. 

The usual signification of this word is given by Webster, 
as follows : " To fall or sink suddenly into water or mud, 
when walking on a hard surface, as on ice or frozen ground, 
not strong enough to bear the person." To which he adds : 
" This legitimate word is in common and respectable use in 
37 



434 COLLEGE WORDS 

New England, and its signification is so appropriate, that no 
other word will supply its place." 

From this meaning, the transfer is, by analogy, very easy 
and natural, and the application very correct, to a poor reci- 
tation. 

SMALL-COLLEGE. The name by which an inferior col- 
lege in the English universities is known. 

A " Small -College" man was Senior Wrangler. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 61. 

SMALL-COLLEGER. A member of a Small-College. 

The two Latin prizes and the English poem [were carried ofi*] 
by a Small-Colleger. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, p. 113. 

The idea of a Small- Colleger \)Qdi&[ig all Trinity was deemed pre- 
posterous. — Ibid., -p. 127. 
SMALLS, or SMALL-GO. At the University of Oxford, an 
examination in the second year. See Little- Go ; Pre- 
vious Examination. 

At the Smalls, as the previous Examination is here called, each 
examiner sends in his Greek and Latin book. — Bristed's Five 
Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 139. 

It follows that the Smalls is a more formidable examination than 
the Little-Go. — Ibid., p. 139. 

SMASH. At the Wesleyan University, a total failure in re- 
citing is called a smash. 
SMILE. A small quantity of any spirituous liquor, or enough 
to give one a pleasant feeling. 

Hast ta'en a " smile " at Brigham's. 

Poem before the ladma, 1850, p. 7. 

SMOKE. In some colleges, one of the means made use of by 
the Sophomores to trouble the Freshmen is to blow smoke 
into their rooms until they are compelled to leave, or, in 
other words, until they are smoJced out. When assafoetida is 
mingled with the tobacco, the sensation which ensues, as the 
foul effluvium is gently wafted through the keyhole, is any- 
thing but pleasing to the olfactory nerves. 



AND CUSTOMS. 435 

Or when, in conclave met, the unpitying wights 
Smoke the young trembler into " College rights " : 
O spare my tender youth ! he, suppliant, cries, 
In vain, in vain ; redoubled clouds arise, 
While the big tears adown his visage roll. 
Caused by the smoke, and sorrow of his soul. 

CoRege Life, hj J. C. Richmond, p. 4. 
They would lock me in if I left my key outside, smoke me out, 
duck me, &c. — Sketches of Williajns College, p. 74. 

I would not have you sacrifice all these advantages for the sake 
oi smoking future Freshmen. — Burial of Euclid, 1850, p. 10. 

A correspondent from the University of Vermont gives the 
following account of a practical joke, which we do not sup- 
pose is very often played in all its parts. " They * train ' 
Freshmen in various ways; the most classic is to take a 
pumpkin, cut a piece from the top, clean it, put in two 
pounds of 'fine cut,' put it on the Freshman's table, and 
then, all standing round with long pipe-stems, blow into it 
the fire placed in the tohac, and so fill the room with smoke, 
then put the Freshman to bed, with the pumpkin for a night- 
cap." 

SMOUGE. At Hamilton College, to obtain without leave. 

SMUT. Vulgar, obscene conversation. Language which ob- 
tains 

" Where Bacchus ruleth all that 's done, 
And Venus all that 's said." 

SMUTTY. Possessing the qualities of obscene conversation. 

Applied also to the person who uses such conversation. 
SNOB. In the English universities, a townsman, as opposed 
to a student ; or a blackguard, as opposed to a gentleman ; a 
loafer generally. — Bristed. 

They charged the Snohs against their will. 
And shouted clear and lustily. 

Gradus ad Cantab, p. 69. 

Used in the same sense at some American colleges. 
2. A mean or vulgar person ; particularly, one who apes 
gentility. — Halliwell. 



436 COLLEGE WORDS 

Used both in England and the United States, " and re- 
cently," says "Webster, " introduced into books as a term of 
derision." 
SNOBBESS. In the English universities, a female snoh. 

Effeminacies like these, induced, no doubt, by the flattering ad- 
miration of the fair snobbesses. — Alma Mater ^ Vol. II. p. 116. 

SNOBBISH. Belonging to or resembling a snoh. 
SNOBBY. Low ; vulgar ; resembling or pertaining to a snoh. 
SNUB. To reprimand ; check ; rebuke. Used among stu- 
dents, more frequently than by any other class of persons. 

SOPH. In the University of Cambridge, England, an abbre- 
viation of SoPHiSTER. — Wehster. 

On this word, Crabb, in his Technological Dictionary, says : 
" A certain distinction or title which undergraduates in the 
University at Oxford assume, previous to theh examination 
for a degree. It took its rise in the exercises which students 
formerly had to go through, but which are now out of use." 
Three College Soplis, and three pert Templars came, 
The same their talents, and their tastes the same. 

Pope's Dunciad, B. 11. v. 389, 390. 

2. In the American colleges, an abbreviation of Sophomore. 

Sophs wha ha' in Commons fed ! 
Sophs wha ha' in Commons bled ! 
Sophs wha ne'er from Commons fled ! 
Puddings, steaks, or wines ! 

Behelliad, p. 52. 
The Sophs did nothing all the first fortnight but torment the 
Fresh, as they call us. — Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 76. 

The Sophs were victorious at every point. — Yale Banger, Nov. 
10, 1846. 

My Chum, a Soph, says he committed himself too soon. — The 
Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 118. 

SOPHIC. A contraction of sophomoric. 

So then the Sophie army 
Came on in warlike glee. 

The Battle of the Ball, 1853. 



I 



AND CUSTOMS. 437 

SOPHIMORE. The old manner of spelling what is now 
known as Sophomore. 

The President may give Leave for the SopMmores to take out 
some particular Books. — Laws Yale Coll., 1774, p. 23. 

His favorite researches, however, are discernible in his observa- 
tions on a comet, which appeared in the beginning of his Sopliimore 
year. — Holmes's Life of Ezra Stiles, p. 13. 

I aver thou hast never been a corporal in the militia, or a soplii- 
more at college. — The Alger Ine Captive, Walpole, 1797, Vol. I. 
p. 68. 

SOPHISH GOWN. Among certain gownsmen, a gown that 
bears the marks of much service ; " a thing of shreds and 
patches." — Gradus ad Cantab. 

SOPHIST. A name given to the undergraduates at Cambridge, 
England. — CraWs Tech. Diet. 

SOPHISTEE. Greek, aocj^ccTT^s. In the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., the title of students who are advanced beyond 
the first year of their residence. The entire course at the 
University consists of three years and one term, during which 
the students have the titles of First- Year Men, or Freshmen ; 
Second- Year Men, or Junior Sophs or Sophisters ; Third- 
Year Men, or Senior Sophs or Sophisters ; and, in the last 
term, Questionists, with reference to the approaching exami- 
nation. In the older American colleges, the Junior and Senior 
Classes were originally called Junior Sophisters and Senior 
Sophisters. The term is also used at Oxford and Dublin. — 
Webster. 

And in case any of the Sophisters fail in the premises required 
at their hands, &c. — Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Yol. I. p. 518. 

SOPHOMORE. One belonging to the second of the four 
classes in an American college. 

Professor Goodrich, in his unabridged edition of Dr. Web- 
ster's Dictionary, gives the following interesting account of 
this word. " This word has generally been considered as 
an ' American barbarism,' but was probably introduced into 
our country, at a very early period, from the University of 
37* 



438 COLLEGE WORDS 

Cambridge, Eng. Among the cant terms at that University, 
as given in the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, we find Soph-Mor 
as ' the next distinctive appellation to Freshman.' It is added, 
that ' a writer in the Gentlemen's Magazine thinks mor an 
abbreviation of the Greek fKopU, introduced at a time when 
the Encomium Morice, the Praise of Folly, by Erasmus, was 
so generally used.' The ordinary derivation of the word, 
from o-ocjios and fxcopos, would seem, therefore, to be incorrect. 
The younger Sophs at Cambridge appear, formerly, to have 
received the adjunct mor (fimpos) to their names, either as one 
which they courted for the reason mentioned above, or as 
one given them in sport, for the supposed exhibition of inflated 
feeling in entering on their new honors. The term, thus ap- 
plied, seems to have passed, at a very early period, from Cam- 
bridge in England to Cambridge in America, as ' the next 
distinctive appellation to Freshman,' and thus to have been 
attached to the second of the four classes in our American 
colleges ; while it has now almost ceased to be known, even 
as a cant word, at the parent institution in England whence 
it came. This derivation of the word is rendered more prob- 
able by the fact, that the early spelling was, to a great extent 
at least, Soph^more, as appears from the manuscripts of Presi- 
dent Stiles of Yale College, and the records of Harvard 
College down to the period of the American Revolution. 
This would be perfectly natural if Soph or SopMster was 
considered as the basis of the word, but can hardly be ex- 
plained if the ordinary derivation had then been regarded as 
the true one." 

Some further remarks on this word may be found in the 
Gentleman's Magazine, above referred to, 1795, Vol. LXV, 
p. 818. 
SOPHOMORE COMMENCEMENT. At Princeton Col- 
lege, it has long been the ' custom for the Sophomore Class, 
near the time of the Commencement at the close of the Sen- 
ior year, to hold a Commencement in imitation of it, at which 
burlesque and other exercises, appropriate to the occasion, 
are performed. The speakers chosen are a Salutatorian, a 



AND CUSTOMS. 439 

Poet, an Historian, who reads an account of the doings of 
the Class up to that period, a Valedictorian, &c., &c. A 
band of music is always in attendance. After the addresses, 
the Class partake of a supper, which is usually prolonged to 
a very late hour. In imitation of the Sophomore Commence- 
ment, Burlesque Bills, as they are called, are prepared and 
published by the Juniors, in which, in a long and formal pro- 
gramme, such subjects and speeches are attributed to the 
members of the Sophomore Class as are calculated to expose 
their weak points. 

SOPHOMORIcIl. \ "^'^'^'^^^ '' '' 1^^^ ^ Sophomore. 

Better to face the prowling panther's path. 
Than meet the storm of SopTiomoric wrath. 

Harvardiana, Vol. IV. p. 22. 

We trust he will add by bis example no significancy to that pithy 
word, " SopJiomoric" — Sketches of Williams Coll., p. 63. 

Another meaning, derived, it would appear, from the char- 
acteristics of the Sophomore, yet not very creditable to him, 
is homhastic, inflated in style or manner. — J. G. Calhoun. 

Students are looked upon as being necessarily Sophomorical in 
Hterary matters. — Williams Quarterly, Vol. 11. p. 84. 

The Professor told me it was rather Sopliomorical. — Sketches of ' 
Williams Coll., p. 74. 

SOPHRONISCUS. At Yale College, this name is given 
to Arnold's Greek Prose Composition, from the fact of its 
repeated occurrence in that work. 

Sophroniscum relinquemus ; 
Et Euclidem comburemus, 
Ejus vi soluti. 

PoW'Wow of Class of'oS, Yale Coll. 
See Balbus. 

SPIRT. Among the students at the University of Cambridge, 
Eng., an extraordinary effort of mind or body for a short 
time. A boat's crew make a spirt, when they pull fifty yards 
with all the strength they have left. A reading-man makes 



440 COLLEGE WORDS 

a spirt when he crams twelve hours daily the week before 
exammation. — JBristed. 

As my health was decidedly improving, I now attempted 

a " spirt" or what was one for me. — Bristed's Five Years in an 
Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 223. 

My amateur Mathematical coach, who was now making his last 
spirt for a Fellowship, used to accompany me. — Ihid., p. 288. 

He reads nine hours a day on a " spirt " the fortnight before ex- 
amination. — Ihid., p. 327. 

SPIRTING. Making an extraordinary effort of mind or body 
for a short time. — JBristed. 

Ants, bees, boat-crews spirting at the Willows, are but 

faint types of their activity. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 224. 

SPLUEGE. In many colleges, when one is either dashy, or 
dressed more than ordinarily, he is said to cut a splurge. A 
showy recitation is often called by the same name. In his 
Dictionary of Americanisms, Mr. Bartlett defines it, " a great 
effort, a demonstration," which is the signification in which 
this word is generally used. 

SPLURGY. Showy ; of greater surface than depth. Applied 
to a lesson which is well rehearsed but little appreciated. 
Also to literary efforts of a certain nature, to character, per- 
sons, &c. 

They even pronounce his speeches splurgy. — Yale Tomahawk, 
May, 1852. 

SPOON. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the last of 
each class of the honors is humorously denominated The 
Spoon. Thus, the last Wrangler is called the Golden Spoon ; 
the last Senior Optime, the Silver Spoon ; and the last Junior 
Optime, the Wooden Spoon. The Wooden Spoon, however, 
is par excellence, " The Spoon." — Gradus ad Gantah. 
See Wooden Spoon. 

SPOON, J A man who has been drinking till he be- 
SPOONY, > comes disgusting by his very ridiculous be- 
SPOONEY. ) havior, is said to be spoony drunk ; and hence 



AND CUSTOMS. 441 

it is usual to call a very prating, shallow fellow a rank spoon. 
— Grose. 

Mr. Bartlett, in his Dictionary of Americanisms, says : — 
" We use the word only in the latter sense. The Hon. Mr. 
Preston, in his remarks on the Mexican war, thus quotes 
from Tom Crib's remonstrance against the meanness of a 
transaction, similar to our cries for more vigorous blows on 
Mexico when she is prostrate : 

"'Look down upon Ben, — see him, dungliill all o'er, 
Insult the fallen foe that can harm him no more. 
Out, cowardly sjjooiiey ! Again and again, 
By the fist of my father, I blush for thee, Ben.' 

" Ay, you will see all the spooneys that ran, like so many dunghill 
champions, from 54 40, stand by the President for the vigorous 
prosecution of the war upon the body of a prostrate foe." — N. Y. 
Tribune, 1847. 

Now that year it so happened that the spoon was no spooney. — 
Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 218. 

Not a few of this party were deluded into a behef, that all studi- 
ous and quiet men were slow, all men of proper self-respect ex- 
clusives, and all men of courtesy and good-breeding spoonies. — 
Collegian^ s Guide, p. 118. 

Suppose that rustication was the fate of a few others of our ac- 
quaintance, whom you cannot call slow, or spoonies either, would it 
be deemed no disgrace by them ? — Ihid.^ p. 196. 

When spoonys on two knees implore the aid of sorcery, 

To suit their wicked purposes they quickly put the laws awry. 
Rejected Addresses, Am. ed., p. 154. 

They belong to the class of elderly " spoons" with some few ex- 
ceptions, and are nettled that the world should not go at their rate 
of progression. — Boston Daily Times, May 8, 1851. 

SPOONY, ) Like a spoon ; possessmg the qualities of a 
SPOONEY. 5 silly or stupid fellow. 

I shall escape from this beautiful critter, for I 'm gettin' spooney, 
and shall talk silly presently. — Sam Slick. 

Both the adjective and the noun spooney are in constant 
and frequent use at some of the American colleges, and are 
generally applied to one who is dishked either for his bad 



442 COLLEGE WORDS 

qualities or for his ill-breeding, usually accompanied with 
the idea of weakness. 

He sprees, is caught, rusticates, returns next year, mingles with 
feminines, and is consequently degraded into the spooney Junior. 
Yale Lit. Mag., Yol. XV. p. 208. 

A " bowl " was the happy conveyance. Perhaps this was chosen 
because the voyagers were spooney. — Yale Banger, Nov. 1849. 

SPOOFS, ) At Harvard College, a weak, silly fellow, or 
SPOOPSY. ) one who is disliked on account of his foolish ac- 
tions, is caHed a spoops, or spoopsy. The meaning is nearly 
the same as that of spoony. 

SPOOPSY. FooHsh ; silly. Applied either to a person or 
thing. 

Seniors always try to be dignified. The term " spoopsey " in 
its widest signification apphes admirably to them. — Yale Toma- 
Jiawk, May, 1852. 

SPOE-T. To exhibit or bring out in public ; as, to sport a new 
equipage. — Grose. 

This word was in great vogue in England in the year 
1783 and 1784; but is now sacred to men o^ fashion, both 
in England and America. 

With regard to the word sport, they [the Cantabrigians] sported 
knowing, and they sported ignorant, — they sported an -3Egrotat, 
and they sported a new coat, — they sported an Exeat, they sported 
a Dormiat, &c.— Gent. Mag., 1784, p. 1085. 

I 'm going to serve my country, 
And sport a pretty wife. 
Presentation Day Songs, June 14, 1854, Yale Coll. 

To sport oah, or a door, is to fasten a door for safety or 
convenience. 

If you call on a man and his door is sported, signifying that he is 
out or busy, it is customary to pop your card through the httle slit 
made for that purpose. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., 
Ed. 2d, p. 336. 

Some few constantly turn the keys of their churhsh doors, and 
others, from time to time, ^^ sport oak." — Harv. Mag., Vol. I. p. 
268. 



AND CUSTOMS. 443 

SPOETING-DOOR. At the English universities, the name 
given to the outer door of a student's room, which can be 
sported or fastened to prevent intrusion. 

Their impregnable sporting-doors, that defy alike the hostile dun 
and the too friendly " fast man." — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 3. 
SPREAD. A feast of a more humble description than a 
Gaudy. Used at Cambridge, England. 

This puts him in high spirits again, and he gives a large spread, 
and gets drunk on the strength of it. — Gradus ad Cantab., p. 129. 

He sits down with all of them, about forty or fifty, to a most glo- 
rious spread, ordered from the college cook, to be served up in the 
most swell style possible. — Ibid., p. 129. 

SPROUT. Any hraiich of education is in student phrase a 
sprout. This peculiar use of the word is said to have origi- 
nated at Yale. 

SPRUNG. The positive, of which tight is the comparative, 
and drunk the superlative. 

" One swallow makes not spring," the poet sung, 
But many swallows make the fast man sprung. 

MS. Poem, by F. E. Felton. 
See Tight. 

SPY. In some of the American colleges, it is a prevailing 
opinion among the students, that certain members of the dif- 
ferent classes are encouraged by the Faculty to report what 
they have seen or ascertained in the conduct of their class- 
mates, contrary to the laws of the college. Many are stig- 
matized as spies very unjustly, and seldom with any sufficient 
reason. 

SQUIRT. At Harvard College, a showy recitation is denomi- 
nated a squirt ; the ease and quickness with which the words 
flow from the mouth being analogous to the ease and quick- 
ness which attend the sudden ejection of a stream of water 
from a pipe. Such a recitation being generally perfect, the 
word squirt is very often used to convey that idea. Perhaps 
there is not, in the whole vocabulary of college cant terms, 



444 COLLEGE WORDS 

one more expressive tlian this, or that so easily conveys its 
meaning merely by its sound. It is mostly used colloquially. 

2. A foppish young fellow ; a whipper-snapper. — Ba/rtlett. 

If they won't keep company with squirts and dandies, who 's 
going to make a monkey of himself? — Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 
160. 

SQUIRT. To make a showy recitation. 

He 'd rather slump than squirt. 

Poem before F. IT., p. 9. 
Webster has this word with the meaning, " to throw out 
words, to let fly," and marks it as out of use. 
SQUIETINESS. The quahty of being showy. 
SQUIRTISH. Showy ; dandified. 

It 's my opinion that these slicked up squirtisJi kind a fellars ain't 
particular hard baked, and they always goes in for aristocracy no- 
tions. — Robh, Squatter Life, p. 73. 

SQUIRTY. Showy ; fond of display ; gaudy. 

Applied to an oration which is full of bombast and gran- 
diloquence ; to a foppish fellow ; to an apartment gayly 
adorned, &c. 

And should they ' ' scrape " in prayers, because they are long 
And rather " squirty " at times. 

Childe Harvard, p. 58. 
STAMMBOOK. German. A remembrance-book ; an album. 
Among the German students stammbooks w^ere kept formerly, 
as commonly as autograph-books now are among American 
students. 

But do procure me the favor of thy Kapunzel writing something 
in my StamrribooTc. — Howitfs Student Life of Germany, Am. ed., p. 
242. 

STANDING. Academical age, or rank. 

Of what standing are you? I am a Senior Soph. — Gradus ad 
Cantab. 

Her mother told me all about your love, 

And asked me of your prospects and your standing. 

Collegian, 1830, p. 267. 



AND CUSTOMS. 445 

To stand for an honor ; i. e. to offer one's self as a candi- 
date for an honor. 

STAR. In triennial catalogues a star designates those who 
have died. This sign was first used with this signification 
by Mather, in his Magnalia, in a list prepared by him of the 
graduates of Harvard College, with a fanciful allusion, it is 
supposed, to the abode of those thus marked. 
Our tale shall be told by a silent star^ 
On the page of some future Triennial. 

Poem before Class o/1849, liarv. Coll., p. 4. 
We had only to look still further back to find the stars clustering 
more closely, indicating the rapid flight of the spirits of short-lived 
tenants of earth to another sphere. — Memories of Youth and Man- 
liood, Vol. n. p. 66. 

STAR. To mark a star opposite the name of a person, signi- 
fying that he is dead. 

Six of the sixteen Presidents of our University have been inau- 
gurated in this place ; and the oldest living graduate, the Hon. 
Paine Wingate of Stratham, New Hampshire, who stands on the 
Catalogue a lonely survivor amidst the starred names of the dead, 
took his degree within these v/alls. — A Sermon on leaving the Old 
Meeting-house in Cambridge, by Rev. Y»^illiam Newell, Dec. 1, 1833, 
p. 22. 

Among those fathers were the venerable remnants of classes that 
are starred to the last two or three, or it may be to the last one. — 
Scenes and Characters in College, p. 6. 

STATEMENT OF FACTS. At Yale College, a name 
given to a public meeting called for the purpose of setting 
forth the respective merits of the two great societies in that 
institution, viz. "Linonia" and "The Brothers in Unity." 
There are six orators, three from Linonia and three from the 
Brothers, — a Senior, a Junior, and the President of each 
society. The Freshmen are invited by handsomely printed 
cards to attend the meeting, and they also have the best seats 
reserved for them, and are treated with the most intense po- 
liteness. As now conducted, the Statement of Facts is any 
thing rather than what is implied by the name. It is simply 
38 



446 COLLEGE WORDS 

an opportunity for the display of speaking talent, in which 
wit and sarcasm are considered of far greater importance 
than truth. The Freshmen are rarely swayed to either side. 
In nine cases out of ten they have already chosen their so- 
ciety, and attend the statement merely from a love of novelty 
and fun. The custom grew up about the year 1830, after 
the practice of dividing the students alphabetically between 
the two societies had fallen into disuse. Like all similar cus- 
toms, the Statement of Facts has reached its present college 
importance by gradual growth. At first the societies met in 
a small room of the College, and the statements did really 
consist of the facts in the case. Now the exercises take place 
in a public hall, and form a kind of intellectual tournament, 
where each society, in the presence of a large audience, 
strives to get the advantage of the other. 

From a newspaper account of the observance of this lit- 
erary festival during the present year, the annexed extract is 
taken. 

" For some years, students, as they have entered College, have 
been permitted to choose the society with which they would connect 
themselves, instead of being alphabetically allotted to one of the two. 
This method has made the two societies earnest rivals, and the ac- 
cession of each class to College creates an earnest struggle to see 
which shall secure the greater number of members. The election- 
eering campaign, as it is termed, begins when the students come to 
be examined for admission to College, that is, about the time of the 
Commencement, and continues through a week or two of the first 
term of the next year. Each society, of course, puts forth the most 
determined efforts to conquer. It selects the most prominent and 
popular men of the Senior Class as President, and arrangements 
are so made that a Freshman no sooner enters town than he finds 
himself unexpectedly surrounded by hosts of friends, willing to do 
anything for him, and especially instruct him in his duty with ref- 
erence to the selection of societies. For the benefit of those who 
do not yield to this private electioneering, this Statement of Facts 
is made. It amounts, however, to little more than a ' good time,' 
as there are very few who wait to be influenced by ' facts ' they 
know will be so distorted. The advocates of each society feel 
bound, of course, to present its affairs in the most favorable aspect. 



AND CUSTOMS. 447 

Disputants are selected, generally with regard to their ability as 
speakers, one from the Junior and one from the Senior Class. 
The Presidents of each society also take part." — N. Y. Daily Times, 
Sept. 22, 1855. 

As an illustration of the eloquence and ability which is 
often displayed on these occasions, the following passages 
have been selected from the address of John M. Holmes of 
Chicago, 111., the Junior orator in behalf of the Brothers in 
Unity at the Statement of Facts held September 20th, 1855. 

" Time forbids me to speak at length of the illustrious alumni of 
the Brothers ; of Professor Thatcher, the favorite of college, — of 
Professor Silliman, the Nestor of American literati, — of the re- 
vered head of this institution. President Woolsey, first President of 
the Brothers in 1820, — of Professor Andrews, the author of the 
best dictionary of the Latin language, — of such divines as Dwight 
and Murdock, — of Bacon and Bushnell, the pride of New England, 
— or of the great names of Clayton, Badger, Calhoun, Ellsworth, 
and John Davis, — all of whom were nurtured and disciplined in the 
halls of the Brothers, and there received the Achillean baptism that 
made their lives invulnerable. But perhaps I err in claiming such 
men as the peculium of the Brothers, — they are the common herit- 
age of the human race. 

' Such names as theirs are pilgrim shrines, 
Shrines to no code nor creed confined, 
The Delphian vales, the Palestines, 
The Meccas of the mind.' 

" But there are other names which to overlook would be worse 
than neghgence, — it would be ingratitude unworthy of a son of 
Yale. 

" At the head of that glorious host stands the venerable form of 
Joel Barlow, who, in addition to his various civil and literary dis- 
tinctions, was the father of American poetry. There too is the 
intellectual brow of Webster, not indeed the great defender of the 
Constitution, but that other AVebster, who spent his life in the per- 
petuation of that language in which the Constitution is embalmed, 
and whose memory will be coeval with that language to the latest 
syllable of recorded time. Beside Webster on the historic canvas 
appears the form of the only Judge of the Supreme Court of the 
United States that ever graduated at this College, — Chief Justice 
Baldwin, of the class of 1797. Next to him is his classmate, a pa- 



448 COLLEGE WORDS 

triarchal old man wLo still lives to bless the associations of his 
youth, — who has consecrated the noblest talents to the noblest 
earthly purposes, — the pioneer of Western education, — the 
apostle of Temperance, — the life-long teacher of immortality, — 
and who is the father of an illustrious family whose genius has mag- 
netized all Christendom. His classmate is Lyman Beecher. But a 
year ago in the neighboring city of Hartford there was a monu- 
ment erected to another Brother in Unity, — the philanthropist 
who first introduced into this country the system of instructing deaf 
mutes. More than a thousand unfortunates bowed around his 
grave. And although there was no audible voice of eulogy or 
thankfulness, yet there were many tears. And grateful thoughts 
went up to heaven in silent benediction for him who had unchained 
their faculties, and given them the priceless treasures of intellectual 
and social communion. Thomas H. Gallaudet was a Brother in 
Unity. 

" And he who has been truly called the most learned of poets 
and the most poetical of learned men, — whose ascent to the heaven 
of song has been like the pathway of his own broad sweeping eagle, 
— J. G. Percival, — is a Brother in Unity. And what shall I say 
of Morse ? Of Morse, the wonder-worker, the world-girdler, the 
sjoace-destroyer, the author of the noblest invention whose glory 
was ever concentrated in a single man, who has realized the fabu- 
lous prerogative of Olympian Jove, and by the instantaneous in- 
tercommunication of thought has accomplished the work of ages in 
binding together the whole civilized world into one great Brother- 
hood in Unity ? 

" Gentlemen, these are the men who wait to welcome you to the 
blessings of our society. There they stand, like the majestic stat- 
ues that line the entrance to an eternal pyramid. And when I look 
upon one statue, and another, and another, and contemplate the co- 
lossal greatness of their proportions, as Canova gazed with rapture 
u]5on the sun-god of the Vatican, I envy not the man whose heart 
expands not with the sense of a new nobility, and whose eye kindles 
not with the heart's enthusiasm, as he thinks that he too is numbered 
among that glorious company, — that he too is sprung from that 
royal ancestry. And who asks for a richer heritage, or a more en- 
during epitaph, than that he too is a Brother in Unity ? " 

S. T. B. Sanct(E Theologies Baccalaureus^ Bachelor in The- 
ology. 
See B. D. 



AND CUSTOMS. 449 

S. T. D. Sanctce Theologice Doctor. Doctor in Theology. 
See D. D. 

STEWARD. In colleges, an officer who provides food for the 
students, and superintends the kitchen. — Webster. 

In American colleges, the labors of the steward are at 
present more extended, and not so servile, as set forth in the 
above definition. To him is usually assigned the duty of 
making out the term-bills and receiving the money thereon ; 
of superintending the college edifices with respect to repairs, 
&c. ; of engaging proper servants in the employ of the col- 
lege ; and of performing such other services as are declared 
by the faculty of the college to be within his province. 

STICK. In college phrase, to stick, or to get stucTc, is to be 
unable to proceed, either in a recitation, declamation, or any 
other exercise. An instructor is said to stick a student, when 
he asks a question which the student is unable to answer. 

But he has not yet discovered, probably, that he that 

" sticks " in Greek, and cannot tell, by demonstration of his own, 
whether the three angles of a triangle are equal to two, or four, 

can nevertheless drawl out the word Fresh, &c. — Scenes and 

Cliaracters in College, p. 30. 

S. T. P. Sanctce Theologice Professor. Professor in Theology. 
A degree of similar import to S. T. D., and D. D. 

STUDENT. A person engaged in study ; one who is devoted 
to learning, either in a seminary or in private ; a scholar ; as, 
the students of an academy, of a college or university ; a 
medical student ; a law student. 

2. A man devoted to books ; a bookish man ; as, a hard 
student ; a close student. — Webster. 

3. At Oxford, this word is used to designate one who 
stands upon the foundation of the college to which he belongs, 
and is an aspirant for academic emoluments. — De Quincey. 

4. In German universities, by student is understood " one 
who has by matriculation acquired the rights of academical 
citizenship." — Howitts Student Life of Germany, Am. ed., 
p. 27. 

38* 



450 COLLEGE WORDS 

STUDY. A building or an apartment devoted to study or to 
literary employment. — Webster. 

In some of the older American colleges, it was formerly 
the custom to partition off, in each chamber, two small rooms, 
where the occupants, who were always two in number, could 
carry on their literary j)ursuits. These rooms were called, 
from this circumstance, studies. Speaking of the first col- 
lege edifice which was erected at New Haven, Mr. Clap, in 
his History of Yale College, says : " It made a handsome ap- 
pearance, and contained near fifty studies in convenient 
chambers " ; and again he speaks of Connecticut Hall as 
containing thirty-two chambers and sixty-four studies. In 
the oldest buildings, some of these studies remain at the 
present day. 

The study rents, until December last, were discontinued with Mr. 
Dunster. — Quincifs Hist. Harv. Univ.^ Vol. I. p. 463. 

Every Graduate and Undergraduate shall find his proportion of 
furniture, &c., during the whole time of his having a study assigned 
him. — Laios Harv. Coll., 1798, p. 35. 

To him that occupies my study, 

I give, kc—Will of Charles Prentiss. 

STUMP. At Princeton College, to fail in reciting; to say, 
" Not prepared," when called on to recite. A stump, a bad 
recitation ; used in the phrase, " to make a stump." 

SUB-FRESH. A person previous to entering the Freshman 
Class is called a suh-fresh, or one below a Freshman. 

Praying his guardian powers 
To assist a poor " Sub-Fresh " at the dread examination. 

Poem before the ladma Soc. of Harv. Coll., 1850, p. 14. 
Our " Sub-Fresh " has that feeling. 

Ibid., p. 16. 
Everybody happy, except Sub-Fresh, and they trying hardest to 
appear so. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XX. p. 103. 

The timid Sub-Fresh had determined to construct stout barri- 
cades, with no lack of ammunition. — Ibid., p. 103. 
Sometimes written Sub. 



AND CUSTOMS. 



451 



Information wanted of the " Suh" who did n't think it an honor 
to be electioneered. — N. B., Yale Coll., June 14, 1851. 
See Pene. 

SUBJECT. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a partic- 
ular author, or part of an author, set for examination ; or a 
particular branch of Mathematics, such as Optics, Hydro- 
statics, &c. — Bristed. 

To get up a subject, is to make one's self thoroughly master 
of it. — Bristed. 
SUB-RECTOR. A rector's deputy or substitute.— Walton, 

Webster. 
SUB-SIZAR. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., formerly 
an order of students lower than the sizars. 
Masters of all sorts, and all ages, 
Keepers, subcizers, lackeys, pages. 

Poems ofBp. Corbet, p. 22. 
There he sits and sees 
How lackeys and subsizers press 
And scramble for degrees. 

Ibid., p. 38. 
See under Sizak. 

SUCK. At ]VIiddlebury College, to cheat at recitation or 
examination by using ponies, interliners, or helps of any 
kind. 

SUPPLICAT. Latin ; literally, he supplicates. In the Eng- 
lish universities, a petition ; particularly a written application 
with a certificate that the requisite conditions hav^een com- 
plied with. — Webster. 

A Sufplicat, says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, is "an 
entreaty to be admitted to the degree of B. A. ; containing 
a certificate that the Questionist has kept his full number of 
terms, or explaining any deficiency. This document is pre- 
sented to the caput by the father of his college." 

SURPLICE DAY. An occasion or day on which the sur- 
plice is worn by the members of a university. 

" On all Sundays and Saint-days, and the evenings preced- 



452 COLLEGE WORDS 

ing, every member of the University, except noblemen, at- 
tends chapel in his surphce." — Grad. ad Cantab., pp. 106, 
107. 

SUSPEND. In colleges, to separate a student from his class, 
and place him under private instruction. 

And those whose crimes are very great, 

Let us suspend or rusticate. — Rebelliad, p. 24. 

SUSPENSION. In universities and colleges, the punishment 
of a student for some offence, usually negligence, by separ- 
ating him from his class, and compelling him to pursue those 
branches of study in which he is deficient under private in- 
struction, provided for the purpose. 

SUSPENSION-PAPER. The paper in which the act of sus- 
pension from college is declared. 

Come, take these three suspension-papers ; 
They '11 teach you how to cut such capers. 

Rebelliad, p. 32. 

SUSPENSION TO THE ROOM. In Princeton College, 
one of the punishments for certain offences subjects a stu- 
dent to confinement to his chamber and exclusion from his 
class, and requires him to recite to a teacher privately for a 
certain time. This is technically called suspension to the 
room. 

SWEEP, ) The name given at Yale and other colleges 

SWEEPER, j to the person whose occupation it is to sweep 
the students' rooms, make their beds, &c. 

Then how welcome the entrance of the sweep, and how cutely 
we fling jokes at each other through the dust ! — Yale Lit. Mag., 
Vol. XIV. p. 223. 

Knocking down the sweep, in clearing the stairs, we described a 
circle to our room. — The Yale Banger, Nov. 10, 1846. 
A Freshman by the faithful sweep 
Was found half buried in soft sleep. 

lUd., Nov. 10, 1846. 
With fingers dirty and black, 
From lower to upper room, 



AND CUSTOMS. 453 

A College Sweep went dustily round, 
Plying his yellow broom. 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 12. 

In the Yale Literary Magazine, Vol. III. p. 144, is "A 
tribute to certain Members of the Faculty, whose names are 
omitted in the Catalogue," in which appropriate praise is 
awarded to these useful servants. 

The Steward engages sweepers for the College. — Laws 

Harv. Coll., 1816, p. 48. 

One of the sweepers finding a parcel of wood, the defend- 
ant, in the absence of the owner of the wood, authorizes the sweeper 
to carry it away. — Scenes and Characters in College, p. 98. 

SWELL BLOCK. In the University of Virgmia, a sobri- 
quet applied to dandies and vain pretenders. 

SWING. At several American colleges, the word swing is 
used for coming out with a secret society badge ; 1st, of the 
society, to swing out the new men; and, 2d, of the men, 
intransitively, to siving, or to swing out, i. e. to appear with 
the badge of a secret society. Generally, to swing out sig- 
nifies to appear in something new. 

The new members have " swung out" and all again is harmony. 
— Sophomore Independent, Union College, Nov. 1854. 

SYNDIC. Latin, syndicus ; Greek, avvbiKos ; avv, with, and 
bUrj, justice. 

An officer of government, invested with, dififerent powers 
in different countries. Almost all the companies in Paris, 
the University, &c., have their syndics. The University of 
Cambridge has its syndics, who are chosen from the Senate 
to transact special business, as tlie regulation of fees, forming 
of laws, inspecting the library, buildings, printing, &c. — 
Webster. Cam. Ccd. 
SYNDICATE. A council or body of syndics. 

The state of instruction in and encouragement to the study of 
Theology were thus set forth in the report of a syndicate appointed 
to consider the subject in 1842. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 293. 



454 COLLEGE WORDS 



T. 



TADS. At Centre College, Ky., there is " a society," says a 
correspondent, " composed of the very best fellows of the 
College, calling themselves Tads, who are generally associ- 
ated together, for the object of electing, by the additional 
votes of their members, any of their friends who are brought 
forward as candidates for any honor or appointment in the 
literary societies to which they belong." 

TAKE UP. To call on a student to rehearse a lesson. 
Professor took him w^ on Greek ; 
He tried to talk, but could n't speak. 

M^. Poem. 

TAKE UP ONE'S CONNECTIONS. In students' phrase, 
to leave college. Used in American institutions. 

TAEDES. At the older American colleges, when- charges 
were made and excuses rendered in Latin, the student who 
had come late to any religious service was addressed by the 
proper officer with the word Tardes, a kind of barbarous sec- 
ond person singular of some unknown verb, signifying, prob- 
ably, " You are or were late." 

Much absence, tardes and egresses, 
The college-evil on him seizes. 

Trwribull's Pr-ogress of Dullness, Part I. 

TARDY. In colleges, late in attendance on a public exercise. 
— Webster. 

TAVERN. At Harvard College, the rooms No. 24 Massa- 
chusetts Hall, and No. 8 Hollis Hall, were occupied from 
the year 1789 to 1793 by Mr. Charles Angier. His table was 
always supplied with wine, brandy, crackers, etc., of which 
his friends were at liberty to partake at any time. From 
this circumstance his rooms were called the Tavern for nearly 
twenty years after his graduation. 

In connection with this incident, it may not be uninterest- 
ing to state, that the cellars of the two buildings above men- 



AND CUSTOMS. 



455 



tioned were divided each into thirty-two compartments, cor- 
responding with the number of rooms. In these the students 
and tutors stored their liquors, sometimes in no inconsider- 
able quantities. Frequent entries are met with in the records 
of the Faculty, in which the students are charged with pilfer- 
ing wine, brandy, or eatables from the tutors' bins. 

TAXOR. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., an officer 
appointed to regulate the assize of bread, the true gauge of 
weights, etc. — Cam, Col. 

TEAM. In the Enghsh universities, the pupils of a private 
tutor or Coach. — Bristed. 

No man who has not taken a good degree expects or pretends 
to take good men into his team. — Bristed' s Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 69. 

It frequently, indeed usually happens, that a " coach " of repu- 
tation declines taking men into his team before they have made 
time in public. — Ihid., p. 85. 

TEAR. At Princeton College, a perfect tear is a very extra 
recitation, superior to a rowl. 

TEMPLE. At Bowdoin College, a privy is thus designated. 

TEN-STRIKE. At Hamihon College, a perfect recitation, ten 
being the mark given for a perfect recitation. 

TEN- YEAR MEN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
these are allowed to take the degree of Bachelor in Divinity 
without having been B. A. or M. A., by the statute of 9th 
Queen Elizabeth, which permits persons, who are admitted 
at any college when twenty-four years of age and upwards, 
to take the degree of B. D. after their names have remained 
on the hoards ten years or more. After the first eight years, 
they must reside in the University the greater part of three 
several terms, and perform the exercises which are required 
by the statutes. — Cam, Cat, 

TERM. In universities and colleges, the time during which 
instruction is regularly given to students, who are obliged 
by the statutes and laws of the institution to attend to the 
recitations, lectures, and other exercises. — Webster, 



456 COLLEGE WORDS 

In the University of Cambridge, Eng., there are three 
terms during each year, which are fixed by invariable rules. 
October or Michaelmas term begins on the 10th of October, 
and ends on the 16th of December. Lent or January term 
begins on the 13th of January, and ends on the Friday before 
Palm Sunday. Easter or Midsummer term, begins on the 
eleventh day (the "Wednesday sennight) after Easter-day, 
and ends on the Friday after Commencement day. Com- 
mencement is always on the first Tuesday in July. 

At Oxford University, there are four terms in the year. 
Michaelmas term begins on the 10th of October, and ends 
on the 17th of December. Hilary term begins on the 14th 
of January, and ends the day before Palm Sunday. But 
if the Saturday before Palm Sunday should be a festival, 
the term does not end tijl the Monday following. Easter 
term begins on the tenth day after Easter Sunday, and ends 
on the day before Whitsunday. Trinity term begins on the 
Wednesday after Whitsunday, and ends the Saturday after 
the Act, which is always on the first Tuesday in July. 

At the Dublin University, the terms in each year are four 
in number. Hilary term begins on the Monday after Epiph- 
any, and ends the day before Palm Sunday. Easter term 
begins on the eighth day after Easter Sunday, and ends) on 
Whitsun-eve. Trinity term begins on Trinity Monday^ and 
ends on the 8th of July. Michaelmas term begins on the 
1st of October (or on the 2d, if the 1st should be Sunday), 
and ends on December 16th. 

TERE^ FILIUS. Latin ; so?i of earth. 

Formerly, one appointed to write a satirical Latin poem 
at the pubHc Acts in the University of Oxford ; not unhke 
the prevaricator at Cambridge, Eng. — Webster. 

Full accounts of the compositions written on these occasions 
may be found in a work in two volumes, entitled "Terrce- 
Filius ; or the Secret History of the University of Oxford," 
printed in the year 1726. 

See Tripos Paper. 



AND CUSTOMS. 457 

TESTAIMUR. Latin; literally, we testify. In the English 
universities, a certificate of proficiency, without which a 
person is not able to take his degree. So called from the 
first word in the formula. 

There is not one out of twenty of my pupils who can look for- 
ward with unmixed pleasure to a testamur. — Collegian's Guide, 
p. 254. 

Every testamur must be signed by three out of the four exam- 
iners, at least. — IhicL, p, 282. 

THEATRE. At Oxford, a building in which are held the 
annual commemoration of benefactors, the recitation of prize 
compositions, and the occasional ceremony of conferring de- 
grees on distinguished personages. — Oxford Guide. 
THEME. In college phrase, a short dissertation composed by 
a student. 

It is the practice at Cambridge [Mass.] for the Professor of Rhet- 
oric and the English Language, commencing in the first or second 
quarter of the student's Sophomoi^c year, to give the class a text ; 
geherally some brief moral quotation from some of the ancient or 
modern poets, from which the students write a short essay, usually 
denominated a tlieme. — Works of R. T. Paine, p. xxi. 

Far be it from me to enter into competition with students who 
have been practising the sublime art of theme and forensic writing 
for two years. — Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 316. 
But on the sleepy day of themes. 
May doze away a dozen reams. 

Ihld., p. 283. 
Nimrod holds his " first theme " in one hand, and is leaning his 
head on the other. — Ihid., p. 253. 

THEME-BEARER. At Harvard College, until within a 
few years, a student was chosen once in a term by his class- 
mates to perform the duties of theme-bearer. He received 
the subjects for themes and forensics from the Professors of 
Rhetoric and of Moral Philosophy, and posted them up in 
convenient places, usually in the entries of the buildings and 
on the bulletin-boards. He also distributed the corrected 
themes, at first giving them to the students after evening 
39 



458 COLLEGE WORDS 

prayers, and, when this had been forbidden by the President, 
carrying them to their rooms. For these services he received 
seventy-five cents per term from each member of the class. 

4» 

THEME-PAPER. In American colleges, a kind of paper on 
which students write their themes or composition. It is of 
the size of an ordinary letter-sheet, contains eighteen or 
nineteen lines placed at wide intervals, and is ruled in red 
ink with a margin a little less than an inch in width. 

Shoe-strings, lucifers, omnibus-tickets, tlieme-jyaper^ postage- 
stamps, and the nutriment of pipes. — Harv. Mag., Vol. I. p. 266. 

THEOLOGUE. A cant name among collegians for a student 
in theology. 

The hardened hearts of Freshmen and Theologues burned with 
righteous indignation. — Yale Tomdiiawk, May, 1852. 

The Theologs are not so wicked as the Medics. — Burlesque 
Catalogue, Yale Coll., 1852-53, p. 30. 

THESES-COLLECTOR. One who collects or prepares 
theses. The following extract from the laws of Harvard 
College will explain furtiier what is meant by this term. 
" The President, Professors, and Tutors, annually, some time 
in the third term, shall select from the Junior Class a number 
of Theses- Collectors, to prepare theses for the next year; 
from which selection they shall appoint so many divisions as 
shall be equal to the number of branches they may assign. 
And each one shall, in the particular bra,nch assigned him, 
collect so many theses as the government may judge expe- 
dient ; and all the theses, thus collected, shall be delivered to 
the President, by the Saturday immediately succeeding the 
end of the Spring vacation in the Senior year, at furthest, 
from which the President, Professors, and Tutors shall select 
such as they shall judge proper to be published. But if the 
theses delivered to the President, in any particular branch, 
should not afford a sufficient number suitable for publication, 
a further number shall be required. The name of the stu- 
dent who collected any set or number of theses shall be an- 
nexed to the theses collected by him, in every pubHcation. 



AND CUSTOMS. . 459 

Should any one neglect to collect the theses required of liim, 
he shall be hable to lose his degree." — 1814, p. 35. 

The Theses- Collectors were formerly chosen by the class, 
as the following extract from a MS. Journal will show. 

" March 27th, 1792. My Class assembled in the chapel 
to choose theses-collectors, a valedictory orator, and poet. 
Jackson was chosen to deliver the Latin oration, and Cutler 
to deliver the poem. Eliis was almost unanimously chosen 
a collector of the grammatical theses. Prince was chosen 
metaphysical theses-collector, with considerable opposition. 
Lowell was chosen mathematical theses-collector, though not 
unanimously. Chamberlain was chosen physical theses-col- 
lector." 

THESIS. A position or proposition which a person advances 
and offers to maintain, or which is actually maintained by 
argument; a theme; a subject; particularly, a subject or 
proposition for a school or university exercise, or the ex- 
ercise itself. — Webster. 

In the older American colleges, the theses held a promi- 
nent place in the exercises of Commencement. At Harvard 
College the earliest theses extant bear the date of the year 
1687. They were Theses Technological, Logical, Gram- 
matical, Rhetorical, Mathematical, and Physical. The last 
theses were presented in the year 1820. The earliest theses 
extant belonging to Yale College are of 1714, and the last 
were printed in 1797. 

THIRDING. In England, "a custom practised at the uni- 
versities, where two thirds of the original price is allowed 
by upholsterers to the students for household goods returned 
them within the year." — Grose's Diet. 

On this subject De Quincey says : " The Oxford rule is, 
that, if you take the rooms (which is at your own option), in 
that case you third the furniture and the embellishments ; 
i. e. you succeed to the total cost diminished by one third. 
You pay, therefore, two guineas out of each three to your 
immediate predecessor." — Life and Manners^ p. 250. 



460 COLLEGE WOPvDS 

THIRD-YEAR MEN. In tlie University of Cambridge, Eng., 
the title of Third-Year Men, or Senior Sophs or Sophisters, 
is given to students during the third year of their residence 
at the University. 

THUNDERING BOLUS. See Intonitans Bolus. 

TICK. A recitation made by one who does not know of what 
he is talking. 

Ticks ^ screws, and deads were all put under contribution. — A 
Tour tlirough College, Boston, 1832, p. 25. 

TICKER. One who recites without knowing what he is talk- 
ing about ; one entirely independent of any book-knowledge. 
If any " Ticker " dare to look 
A stealthy moment on his book. 

Harvardiana, Yol. III. p. 123. 

TICKING-. The act of reciting without knowing anything 
about the lesson. 

And what with ticking, screwing, and deading, am candidate for 
a piece of parchment to-morrow. — Harv. Reg., p. 194. 
TIGHT. A common slang term among students; the com- 
parative, of which drunh is the superlative. 

Some twenty of as jolly chaps as e'er got jolly tiglit. 

Poem lefore Y. H., 1849. 
Hast spent the livelong night 
In smoking Esculapios, — in getting jolly tiglit f \ 

Poem hefore ladma, 185p^ 
He clenched his fist as fain for fight, 
Sank back, and gently murmured " tigJit" 

MS. Poem, W. F. Allen, 1848. 
While fathers are bursting with rage and spite. 
And old ladies vow that the students are tight. 

Yale Gallinipper, Nov, 1848. 

Speaking of the word '' drunk," the Burlington Sentinel 
remarks : " The last synonyme that we have observed is 
Hight^ a term, it strikes us, rather inappropriate, since a 
* tight ' man, in the cant use of the word, is almost always a 
'loose character.' "We give a list of a few of the various 
words and phrases which have been in use, at one time or 



AND CUSTOMS. 461 

another, to signify some stage of inebriation : Over the bay, 
half seas over, hot, high, corned, cut, cocked, shaved, dis- 
guised, jammed, damaged, sleepy, tired, discouraged, snuffy, 
whipped, how come ye so, breezy, smoked, top-heavy, fud- 
dled, groggy, tipsy, smashed, swipy, slewed, cronk, salted 
down, how fare ye, on the lee lurch, all sails set, three sheets 
in the wind, well under way, battered, blowing, snubbed, 
sawed, boosy, bruised, screwed, soaked, comfortable, stimu- 
lated, jug-steamed, tangle-legged, fogmatic, blue-eyed, a pas- 
senger in the Cape Ann stage, striped, faint, shot in the neck, 
bamboozled, weak-jointed, got a brick in his hat, got a turkey 
on his back." 

Dr. Franklin, in speaking of the intemperate drinker, says, 
he will never, or seldom, allow that he is drunk ; he may be 
" boosy, cosey, foxed, merry, mellow, fuddled, groatable, con- 
foundedly cut, may see two moons, be aniong the Philistines, 
in a very good humor, have been in the sun, is a little fever- 
ish, pretty well entered, &c., but never driC7ikJ' 

A highly entertaining list of the phrases which the Ger- 
mans employ " to clothe in a tolerable garb of decorum that 
dreamy condition into which Bacchus frequently throws his 
votaries," is given in Howitfs Student Life of German?/, Am. 
ed., pp. 296, 297. 

See Sprung. 

2. At Williams College, this word is sometimes used as an 
exclamation ; e. g. " tight I " 

TIGHT FIT. At the University of Vermont, a good joke is 
denominated by the students a tight ft, and the jokee is said 
to be " hard up." 

TILE. A hat. Evidently suggested by the meaning of the 
word, a covering for the roof of buildings. 
Then, taking it from off his head, began to brush his " tile." 

Poem before the ladma, 1850. 

TOADY. A fawning, obsequious parasite; a toad-eater. In 
college cant, one who seeks or gains favor with an instructor or 
popularity with his classmates by mean and sycophantic actions. 
39* 



462 



COLLEGE WORDS 



TOADY. To flatter any one for gain. — Halliwell, 

TOM. The great bell of Christ Church, Oxford, which for- 
merly belonged to Osney Abbey. 

" This bell," says the Oxford Guide, " was recast in 1680, 
its weight t)eing about 17,000 pounds ; more than double the 
weight of the great bell in St. Paul's, London. This bell 
has always been represented as one of the finest in England, 
but even at the risk of dispelling an illusion under which 
most Oxford men have labored, and which every member of 
Christ Church has indulged in from 1 680 to the present time, 
touching the fancied superiority of mighty Tom, it must be con- 
fessed that it is neither an accurate nor a musical bell. The 
note, as we are assured by the learned in these matters, ought 
to be B flat, but is not so. On the contrary, the bell is imper- 
fect and inharmonious, and requires, in the opinion of those 
best informed, and of most experience, to be recast. It is, 
however, still a great curiosity, and may be seen by applying 
to the porter at Tom-Gate lodge." — Ed. 1847, p. 5, note a. 

TO THE if"- I Among English Cantabs these alge- 

TO THE 11 -j- !"'• j braic expressions are used as intensives to 
denote the most energetic way of doing anything. — Bristed, 

TOWNEY. The name by which a student in an American 
college is accustomed to designate any young man residing in 
the town in which the college is situated, who is not a colle- 
gian. 

And Toiuneys left when she showed fight. 

Pow-wow of Class of '58, Yale Coll. 

TRANSLATION. The act of turning one language into 
another. 

At the University of Cambridge, Eng., this word is applied 
more particularly to the turning of Greek or Latin into Eng- 
lish. 

In composition and cram I was yet untried, and the translations 
in lecture-room were not difficult to acquit one's self on respecta- 
bly. — jBmtecZ's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 34. 

TRANSMITTENDUM, pi Transmittenda or Transmit- 



AND CUSTOMS. 463 

TENDUMS. Anything transmitted, or handed down from one 
to another. 

Students, on withdrawing from college, often leave in the 
room which they last occupied, pictures, looking-glasses, 
chairs, &c., there to remain, and to be handed down to the 
latest posterity. Articles thus left are called transmittenda. 

The Great Mathematical Slate was a iransmitiendum to the best 
mathematical scholar in each class. — 3IS. note in Cat. Med. Fac. 
Soc, 1833, p. 16. 

TRENCHER-CAP. A name sometimes given to the square 
head-covering worn by students in the English universities. 
Used figuratively to denote collegiate power. 

The trencher-cap has claimed a right to take its part in the move- 
ments which make or mar the destinies of nations, by the side of 
plumed casque and priestly tiara. — The English Universities and 
their Reforms, in BlacJcicood's Mag., Feb. 1849. 

TRIANGLE. At Union College, a urinal, so called from its 

shape. 
TRIENNIAL, or Triennial Catalogue. In American col- 
leges, a catalogue issued once in three years. This catalogue 
contains the names of the officers and students, arranged ac- 
cording to the years in which they were connected with the 
college, an account of the high public oflices which they have 
filled, degrees which they have received, time of death, &c.* 
The Triennial Catalogue becomes increasingly a mournful rec- 
ord — it should be monitory, as well as mournful — to survivors, 
looking at the stars thickening on it, from one date to another. — 
Scenes and Characters in College, p. 198. 

Our tale shall be told by a silent star. 
On the page of some future Triennial. 

Class Poem, Harv. Coll., 1849, p. 4. 

TRIMESTER. Latin trimestris ; ires, three, and mensis, 
month. In the German universities, a term or period of 
three months. — Webster. 

* The Triennial Catalogue of Harvard College was first printed in a 
pamphlet form in the year 1778. 



464 COLLEGE WORDS 

TRINITARIAN. The popular name of a member of Trinity 
College in the University of Cambridge, Eng. 

TRIPOS, p/. Triposes. At Cambridge, Eng., any university 
examination for honors, of questionists or men who have just 
taken their B. A. The university scholarship examinations 
are not called triposes. — Bristed. 

The Classical Tripos is generally spoken of as the Tripos, the 
Mathematical one as the Degree Examination. — Ihid., p. 1 70. 

2. A tripos paper. 

3. One who prepai'es a tripos paper. — Webster^ 

TRIPOS PAPER. At the University of Cambridge, Eng- 
land, a printed list of the successful candidates for mathe- 
matical honors, accompanied by a piece in Latin verse. 
There are two of these, designed to commemorate the two 
Tripos days. The fii'st contains ^he names of the Wranglers 
and Senior Optimes, and the second the names of the Junior 
Optimes. The word tripos is supposed to refer to the three- 
legged stool formerly used at the examinations for these hon- 
ors, though some derive it from the three brackets formerly 
printed on the back of the paper. " ^ 

Classical Tripos Exa7nination. The final university exam- 
ination for classical honors, optional to all who have taken the 
mathematical honors. — G. A. Bristed, in Webster's Diet. 

The Tripos Paper is more fully described in the annexed 
extract. " The names of the Bachelors who were highest in 
the hst (Wranglers and Senior Optimes, Baccalaurei quibus 
sua reservatur senioritas Gomitiis prioribus, and Junior Op- 
times, Comitiis posterioribus) were written on slips of paper ; 
and on the back of these papers, probably with a view of 
making them less fugitive and more entertaining, was given a 
copy of Latin verses. These verses were written by one of 
the new Bachelors, and the exuberant spirits and enlarged 
freedom arising from the termination of the Undergraduate 
restrictions often gave to these effusions a character of buf- 
foonery and satire. The writer was termed Terrce Filius, or 
Tripos, probably from some circumstance in the mode of his 



AND CUSTOMS. 465 

making his appearance and delivering his verses ; and took 
considerable liberties. On some occasions, we find that these 
went so far as to incur the censure of the authorities. Even 
now, the Tripos verses often aim at satire and humor. [It is 
customary to have one serious and one humorous copy of 
verses.] The writer does not now appear in person, but the 
Tripos Paper, the list of honors with its verses, still comes 
forth at its due season, and the list itself has now taken the 
name of the Tripos. This being the case with the list of 
mathematical honors, the same name has been extended to 
the list of classical honors, though unaccompanied by its 
classical verses." — Whewell on Cambridge Education, Pref- 
ace to Part II., quoted in Bristed's Five Tears in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 25. 

THUMP. A jolly blade ; a merry fellow ; one who occupies 
among his companions a position similar to that which trumps 
hold to the other cards in the pack. Not confined in its use 
to collegians, but much in vogue among them. 
But soon he treads this classic ground, 
Where knowledge dwells and trumps abound. 

MS. Poem. 

TRUSTEE. A person to whom property is legally committed 
in trust, to be applied either for the benefit of specified indi- 
viduals, or for public uses. — Webster. 

In many American colleges the general government is 
vested in a board of trustees, appointed differently in differ- 
ent colleges. 

See CoKPORATiON and Overseer. 
TUFT-HUNTER. A cant term, in the English universities, 
for a hanger-on to noblemen and persons of quality. So 
called from the tuft in the cap of the latter. — Halliwell. 

There are few such thorougli tuft-hunters as your genuine Oxford 
Don. — Blackwood's Mag., Eng. ed., Vol. LYI. p. 572. 

TUITION. In universities, colleges, schools, &c., the money 
paid for instruction. In American colleges, the tuition is 
from thirty to seventy dollars a year. 



466 COLLEGE W0KD9 

TUTE. Abbreviation for Tutor. 

TUTOR. Latin ; from tueor, to defend ; French, tuteur. 

In English universities and colleges, an officer or member 
of some hall, who has the charge of hearing the lessons of 
the students, and otherwise giving them instruction in the 
sciences and various branches of learning. 

In the American colleges, tutors are graduates selected by 
the trustees, for the instruction of undergraduates of the first 
three years. They are usually officers of the institution, who 
have a share, with the president and professors, in the gov- 
ernment of the students. — Webster. 

TUTORAGE. In the English universities, the guardianship 
exerted by a tutor ; the care of a pupil. 

The next item which I shall notice is that which in college bills 
is expressed by the word Tutorage. — De Quincey's Life and Man- 
ners, p. 251. ' 

TUTOR, CLASS. At some of the colleges in the United 
States, each of the four classes is assigned to the care of a 
particular tutor, who acts as the ordinary medium of com- 
munication between the members of the class and the Faculty, 
and who may be consulted by the students concerning their 
studies, or on any other subject interesting to them in their 
relations to the college. 

At Harvard College, in addition to these offices, the Class 
Tutors grant leave of absence from church and from town 
for Sunday, including Saturday night, on the presentation of 
a satisfactory reason, and administer all warnings and private 
admonitions ordered by the Faculty for misconduct or neg- 
lect of duty. — Orders and Regulations of the Faculty of 
Harv. Coll, July, 1853, pp. 1, 2. 

Of this regulation as it obtained at Harvard during the 
latter part of the last century, Professor Sidney Willard says : 
" Each of the Tutors had one class, of which he was charged 
with a certain oversight, and of which he was called the par- 
ticular Tutor. The several Tutors in Latin successively sus- 
tained this relation to my class. Warnings of various kinds, 



AND CUSTOMS. 467 

private admonitions for negligence or minor oflfences, and, 
in general, intercommunication between his class and the 
Immediate Government, were the duties belonging to this 
relation." — Memories of Youth and Man1iood,Yo\, I. p. 266, 
note. 
TUTOR, COLLEGE. At the universities of Oxford and 
Cambridge, an officer connected with a college, whose duties 
are described in the annexed extracts. 

With reference to Oxford, De Quincey remarks : " Each 
college takes upon itself the regular instruction of its separ- 
ate inmates, — of these and of no others ; and for this office it 
appoints, after careful selection, trial, and probation, the best 
qualified amongst those of its senior members who choose to 
undertake a trust of such heavy responsibility. These offi- 
cers are called Tutors ; and they are connected by duties and 
by accountability, not with the University at all, but with 
their ow^n private colleges. The public tutors appointed in 
each college [are] on the scale of one to each dozen or score 
of students." — Life and Manners^ Boston, 1851, p. 252. 

Bristed, writing of Cambridge, says : " When, therefore, a 
boy, or, as we should call him, a young man, leaves his school, 
public or private, at the age of eighteen or nineteen, and 
* goes up ' to the University, he necessarily goes up to some 
particular college, and the first academical authority he makes 
acquaintance with in the regular order of things is the Col- 
lege Tutor. This gentleman has usually taken high honors 
either in classics or mathematics, and one of his duties is 
naturally to lecture. But this by no means constitutes the 
whole, or forms the most important part, of his functions. He 
is the medium of all the students' pecuniary relations with 
the College. He sends in their accounts every term, and 
receives the money through his banker ; nay, more, he takes 
in the bills of their tradesmen, and settles them also. Far- 
ther, he has the disposal of the college rooms, and assigns 
them to their respective occupants. "Wlien I speak of the 
College Tutor, it must not be supposed that one man is equal 
to all this work in a large college, — Trinity, for instance. 



468 COLLEGE -VVORDS 

whicli usually numbers four hundred Undergraduates in res- 
idence. A large college has usually two Tutors, — Trinity 
has three, — and the students are equally divided among 
them, — on their sides, the phrase is, — without distinction of 
year, or, as we should call it, of class. The jurisdiction of 
the rooms is divided in like manner. The Tutor is supposed 
to stand m loco parentis ; but having sometimes more than 
a hundred young men under him, he cannot discharge his 
duties in this respect very thoroughly, nor is it generally ex- 
pected that he should." — Five Tears in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 
2d, pp. 10, 11. 
TUTORIAL. Belonging to or exercised by a tutor or in- 
structor. 

Even -while he is engaged in his ^^ tutorial" duties, &c. — Am. 
Lit. Mag., Vol. lY. p. 409. 

TUTORIC. Pertaining to a tutor. ' J 

A collection of two was not then considered a sure prognostic of 
rebellion, and spied out vigilantly by ^w^onc eyes. — Harvardiana, 
Vol. in. p. 314. 

TUTORIFIC. The same as tutoric. 

While thus in doubt they hesitating stand, 
Approaches near the Tutor ijic band. 

Yale TomaTiawh^ May, 1852. 
" Old Yale," of thee we sing, thou art our theme, 
Of thee with all thy Tutorijic host— Ibid. 

TUTORING FRESHMEN. Of the various means used by 
Sophomores to trouble Freshmen, that of tutoring them, as 
described in the following extract from the Sketches of Yale 
College, is not at all pecuhar to that institution, except in so 
far as the name is concerned. 

" The ancient customs of subordination among the classes, 
though long since abrogated, still preserve a part of their 
power over the students, not only of this, but of almost every 
similar institution. The recently exalted Sophomore, the 
dignified Junior, and the venerable Senior, look back with 
equal humor at the ' greenness ' of their first year. The 



AND CUSTOMS. 469 

former of these classes, however, is chiefly notorious in the 
annals of Freshman capers. To them is allotted the duty of 
fumigating the room of the new-comer, and preparing him, 
by a due induction into the mysteries of Yale, for the duties 
of his new situation. Of these performances, the most sys- 
tematic is commonly styled Tutoring, from the character as- 
sumed by the officiating Sophomore. Seated solemnly in 
his chair of state, arrayed in a pompous gown, with specs 
and powdered hair, he awaits the approach of the awe-struck 
subject, who has been duly warned to attend his pleasure, 
and fitly instructed to make a low reverence and stand 
speechless until addressed by his illustrious superior. A be- 
coming impression has also been conveyed of the dignity, 
talents, and profound learning and influence into the congre- 
gated presence of which he is summoned. Everything, in 
short, which can increase his sufficiently reverent emotions, 
or produce a readier or more humble obedience, is carefully 
set forth, till he is prepared to approach the door with no 
little degree of that terror with which the superstitious in- 
quirer enters the mystic circle of the magician. A shaded 
light gleams dimly out into the room, and pours its fuller 
radiance upon a ponderous volume of Hebrew ; a huge pile 
of folios rests on the table, and the eye of the fearful Fresh- 
man half ventures to discover that they are tomes of the 
dead languages. 

" But first he has, in obedience to his careful monitor, 
bowed lowly before the dignified presence ; and, hardly rais- 
ing his eyes, he stands abashed at his awful situation, waiting 
the supreme pleasure of the supposed officer. A benignant 
smile lights up the tutor's grave countenance ; he enters 
strangely enough into famihar talk with the recently admitted 
collegiate ; in pathetic terms he describes the temptations of 
this great city, the thousand dangers to which he will be ex- 
posed, the vortex of ruin into which, if he walks unwarily, 
he will be surely plunged. He fires the youthful ambition 
with glowing descriptions of the honors that await the suc- 
cessful, and opens to his eager view the dazzling prospect 
40 



470 COLLEGE WORDS 



*f 



of college fame. Nor does he fail to please the youthful as- 
pirant with assurances of the kindly notice of the Faculty ; 
he informs him of the satisfactory examination he has passed, 
and the gratification of the President at his uncommon pro- 
ficiency ; and having thus filled the buoyant imagination of 
his dupe with the most glowing college air-castles, dismisses 
him from his august presence, after having given him especial 
permission to call on any important occasion hereafter." — 
pp. 159-162. 
TUTOR, PRIVATE. At the Universities of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, an instructor, whose position and studies are set forth 
in the following extracts. 

" Besides the public tutors appointed in each college," says 
De Quincey, writing of Oxford, " there are also tutors strictly 
private, who attend any students in search of special and ex- 
traordinary aid, on terms settled privately by themselves. 
Of these persons, or their existence, the college takes no cog- 
nizance." "These are the working accents in the Oxford 
system." "The Tutors of Oxford correspond to the ProfeS' 
sors of other universities." — Life and Manners, Boston, 
1851, pp. 252, 253. 

Referring to Cambridge, Bristed remarks : " The private 
tutor at an English university corresponds, as has been al- 
ready observed, in many respects, to the professor at a Ger- 
man. The German professor is not necessarily attached to 
any specific chair ; he receives no fixed stipend, and has not 
public lecture-rooms ; he teaches at his own house, and the 
number of his pupils depends on his reputation. The Cam- 
bridge private tutor is also a graduate, who takes pupils at 
his rooms in numbers proportionate to his reputation and 
ability. And although while the German professor is regu- 
larly licensed as such by his university, and the existence of 
the private tutor as such is not even officially recognized by 
his, still this difference is more apparent than real ; for the 
English university has virtually licensed the tutor to instruct 
in a particular branch by the standing she has given him in 
her examinations." " Students come up to the University 



AND CUSTOMS. 471 

with all degrees of preparation To make up for former 

deficiences, and to direct study so that it may not be wasted, 
are two desiderata which probably led to the introduction of 
private tutors, once a partial, now a general appliance.'"' — 
Five Tears in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, pp. 146 - 148. 
TUTORSHIP. The office of a tutor. — Hooher. 

In the following passage, this word is used as a titulary 
compellation, like the word lordship. 

One morning, as the story goes, 

Before his tutorship arose. — Eeielliad, p. 73. 

TUTORS' PASTURE. In 1645, John Bulkley, the "first 
Master of Arts in Harvard College," by a deed, gave to Mr. 
Dunster, the President of that institution, two acres of land 
in Cambridge, during his life. The deed then proceeds : " If 
at any time he shall leave the Presidency, or shall decease, I 
then desire the College to appropriate the same to itself for 
ever, as a small gift from an alumnus, bearing towards it the 
greatest good-will." "After President Dunster's resigna- 
tion," says Quincy, " the Corporation gave the income of 
Bulkley's donation to the tutors, who received it for many 
years, and hence the enclosure obtained the name of ' Tutors^ 
Pasture^ or ' Fellows' OrchardJ " In the Donation Book of 
the College, the deed is introduced as " Extractum Doni 
Pomarii Sociorum per Johannem Bulkleium." — Quinci/s 
Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. pp. 269, 270. 

For further remarks on this subject, see Peirce's " History 
of Harvard University," pp. 15, 81, 113, also Chap. XIIL, 
and " Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D.," pp. 390, 391. 

TWITCH A TWELVE. At Middlebury College, to make 
a perfect recitation; twelve being the maximum mark for 
scholarship. 



472 COLLEGE WOKDS 



u. 

UGLY KNIFE. See Jack-knife. 

UNDERGRADUATE. A student, or member of a univer- 
sity or college, who has not taken his first degree. — Webster. 

UNDERGRADUATE. Noting or pertaining to a student of 
a college who has not taken his first degree. 

The undergraduate students shall be divided into four distinct 
classes. — Laws Yale Coll., 1837, p. 11. 

With these the undergraduate course is not intended to interfere. 
— Yale Coll. Cat., 1850-51, p. 33. ~ V_- 

UNDERGRADUATESHIP. The state of being an under- 
graduate. — Life of Paley, 

UNIVERSITY. An assemblage of colleges established in any- 
place, with professors for instructing students in the sciences 
and other branches of learning, and where degrees are con- 
ferred. A university is properly a universal school, in which 
are taught all branches of learning, or the four faculties of 
theology, medicine, law, and the sciences and arts. — Gyclo- 
pcedia, 

2. At some American colleges, a name given to a univer- 
sity student. The regulation in reference to this class at 
Union College is as follows : — " Students, not regular mem- 
bers of college, are allowed, as university students, to prose- 
cute any branches for which they are qualified, provided they 
attend three recitations daily, and conform in all other re- 
spects to the laws of College. On leaving College, they re- 
ceive certificates of character and scholarship." — Union Coll. 
Cat., 1850. 

The eyes of several Freshmen and Universities shone with a 
watery lustre. — The Parthenon, Vol. I. p. 20. 

UP. To be up in a subject, is to be informed in regard to it. 
Posted expresses a similar idea. The use of this word, al- 
though common among collegians, is by no means confined to 
them. 



AND CUSTOMS. 473 

In our past history, short as it is, we would hardly expect them 
to be well up, — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, 
p. 28. 

He is well up in metaphysics. — Ibid..) p. 53. 
UPPER HOUSE. See Senate. 



V. 

VACATION. The intermission of the regular studies and ex- 
ercises of a college or other seminary, when the students have 
a recess. — Webster. 

In the University of Cambridge, Eng., there are three va- 
cations during each year. Christmas vacation begins on the 
16th of December, and ends on the 13th of January. Easter 
vacation begins on the Friday before Palm Sunday, and ends 
on the eleventh day after Easter-day. The Long vacation 
begins on the Friday succeeding the first Tuesday in July, 
and ends on the 10 th of October. At the University of Ox- 
ford there are four vacations in each year. At Dublin Uni- 
versity there are also four vacations, which correspond nearly 
with the vacations of Oxford. 
See Term. 

VALEDICTION. A farewell; a bidding farewell. Used 
sometimes with the meaning of valedictory or valedictory ora- 
tion. 

Two publick Orations, by the Candidates: the one to give a 
specimen of their Knowledge, &e., and the other to give a grateful 
and pathetick Valediction to all the Officers and Members of the 
Society. — Clap's Hist. Yale Coll., p. 87. 

VALEDICTORIAN. The student of a college who pro- 
nounces the valedictory oration at the annual Commence- 
ment. — Webster. 

VALEDICTORY. In American colleges, a farewell oration 
40* 



474 ^ COLLEGE WORDS 

or address spoken at Commencement, by a member of the 
class which receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and take 
their leave of college and of each other. 
VAEMINT. At Cambridge, England, and also among the 
whip gentry, this word signifies natty, spruce, dashing ; e. g. 
he is quite varmint ; he sports a varmint hat, coat, &c. 

A varmint man spurns a scholarsliip, would consider it a degra- 
dation to be a fellow. — Gradus ad Cantab., p. 122. 

The handsome man, my friend and pupil, was naturally enough 
a bit of a swell, or varmint man. — Alma Mater, Vol. 11. p. 118. 

VERGER. At the University of Oxford, an officer who walks 
first in processions, and carries a silver rod. ~^ 

VICE-CHANCELLOR. An ofiacer in a university, in Eng- 
land, a distinguished member, who is annually elected to 
manage the affairs in the absence of the Chancellor. He 
must be the head of a college, and during his continuance in 
office he acts as a magistrate for the university, town, and 
county. — Ga7n. Gal. 

At Oxford, the Vice-Chancellor holds a court, in which 
suits may be brought against any member of the University. 
He never walks out, without being preceded by a Yeoman- 
Bedel with his silver staff. At Cambridge, the Mayor and 
Bailiffs of the town are obliged, at their election, to take cer- 
tain oaths before the Vice-Chancellor. The Vice-Chancellor 
has the sole right of licensing wine and ale-houses in Cam- 
bridge, and of discommuning any tradesman or inhabitant 
who has violated the University privileges or regulations. 
In both universities, the Vice-Chancellor is nominated by the 
Heads of Houses, from among themselves. 

VICE-MASTER. An officer of a college in the English uni- 
versities who performs the duties of the Master in his absence. 

VISITATION. The act of a superior or superintending offi- 
cer, who visits a corporation, college, church, or other house, 
to examine into the manner in which it is conducted, and see 
that its laws and regulations are duly observed and exe- 
cuted. — Cyc. 



AND CUSTOMS. 475 

In July, 1766, a law was formally enacted, " that twice in the 
year, viz. at the semiannual visitation of the committee of the Over- 
seers, some of the scholars, at the direction of the President and 
Tutors, shall publicly exhibit specimens of their proficiency," &c. 
— Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. II. p. 132. 
VIVA VOCE. Latin ; literally, with the living voice. In the 
English universities, that part of an examination which is 
carried on orally. 

The examination involves a little viva voce, and it was said, that, 
if a man did his viva voce well, none of his papers were looked at 
but the Paley. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. ?7my., Ed. 2d, 
p. 92. 

In Combination Room, where once I sat at viva voce, wretched, 
ignorant, the wine goes round, and wit, and pleasant talk. — House- 
hold Words, Am. ed., Vol. XI. p. 521. 



w. 

WALLING. At the University of Oxford, the punishment of 
walling, as it is popularly denominated, consists in confining 
a student to the walls of his college for a certain period. 
WARDEN. The master or president of a college. — Eng- 
land. 
WARNING. In many colleges, when it is ascertained that a 
student is not Hving in accordance with the laws of the insti- 
tution, he is usually informed of the fact by a warning, as it 
is called, from one of the faculty, which consists merely of 
friendly caution and advice, thus giving him an opportunity, 
by correcting his faults, to escape punishment. 
Sadly I feel I should have been saved by numerous warnings. 

Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 98. 
No more shall " warnings " in their hearing ring, 
Nor " admonitions " haunt their aching head. 

Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XV. p. 210. 



476 COLLEGE WORDS 

WEDGE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the man 
whose name is the last on the Hst of honors in the voluntary 
classical examination, which follows the last examination re- 
quired by statute, is called the wedge. " The last man is 
called the wedge" says Bristed, " corresponding to the Spoon 
in Mathematics. This name originated in that of the man 
who was last on the first Tripos Hst (in 1824), Wedgewood. 
Some one suggested that the wooden wedge was a good coun- 
terpart to the wooden spoon, and the appellation stuck." — 
Five Tears in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 253. 

WET. To christen a new garment by treating one's friends 
when one first appears in it ; e. g. : — A. " Have you wet 
that new coat yet ? " B. " No." A. " Well, then, I should 
recommend to you the propriety of so doing." B. " What 
will you drink?" This word, although much used among 
students, is by no means confined to them. 

WHINNICK. At Hamilton College, to refuse to fulfil a 
promise or engagement ; to retreat from a difiiculty ; to back 
out. 

WHITE-HOOD HOUSE. See Senate. 

WIGS. The custom of wearing wigs was, perhaps, observed 
nowhere in America during the last century with so much 
particularity as at the older colleges. Of this the following 
incident is illustrative. Mr. Joseph Palmer, who graduated 
at Harvard in the year 1747, entered college at the age of 
fourteen ; but, although so young, was required immediately 
after admission to cut off" his long, flowing hair, and to cover 
his head with an unsightly bag-wig. At the beginning of the 
present century, wigs were not wholly discarded, although the 
fashion of wearing the hair in a queue was more in vogue. 
From a record of curious facts, it appears that the last wig 
which appeared at Commencement in Harvard College was 
worn by Mr. John Marsh, in the year 1819. 
See Dress. 

WILL. At Harvard College, it was at one time the mode for 
the student to whom had been given the Jack-knife in con- 



AND CUSTOMS. 477 

sequence of his ugliness, to transmit the inheritance, when he 
left, to some one of equal pretensions in the class next beloAV 
him. At one period, this transmission was effected by a will, 
in which not only the knife, but other articles, were bequeathed. 
As the 21st of June was, till of late years, the day on which 
the members of the Senior Class closed their collegiate stud- 
ies, and retired to make preparations for the ensuing Com- 
mencement, Wills were usually dated at that time. The first 
will of this nature of which mention is made is that of Mr. 
William Biglow, a member of the class of 1794, and the 
recipient for that year of the knife. It appeared in the 
department entitled " Omnium Gatherum " of the Fed- 
eral Orrery, published at Boston, April 27, 1795, in these 
words : — 

"A WILL: 
Being the last Words of Charles Chatterbox, Esq., late 

WORTHY AND MUCH LAMENTED MEMBER OF THE LaUGHING 

Club of Harvard University, who departed College 
Life, June 21, 1794, in the Twenty-first Year of his Age. 

" I, Charley Chatter, sound of mind, 
To making fun am much inclined ; 
So, having cause to apprehend 
My college life is near its end, 
All future quarrels to prevent, 
I seal this will and testament. 

" My soul and body, while together, 
I send the storms of life to weather ; 
To steer as safely as they can, 
To honor God, and profit man. 

" Imprimis^ then, my bed and bedding, 
My only chattels worth the sledding, 
Consisting of a maple stead, 
A counterpane, and coverlet, 
Two cases with the pillows in, 
A blanket, cord, a winch and pin, 
Two sheets, a feather bed and hay-tick, 
I order sledded up to Natick , 



478 COLLEGE WORDS 

And that with care the sledder save them 
For those kind parents, first who gave them. 

" Item. The Laughing Club, so blest, 
Who think this life what 'tis, — a jest, — 
Collect its flowers from every spray, 
And laugh its goading thorns away ; 
From whom to-morrow I dissever, 
Take one sweet grin, and leave for ever ; 
My chest, and all that in it is, 
I give and I bequeath them, viz. : 
Westminster grammar, old and poor. 
Another one, compiled by Moor ; 
A bunch of pamphlets pro and con 
The doctrine of salva-ti-on ; 
The college laws, I 'm freed from minding, 
A Hebrew psalter, stripped from binding. 
A Hebrew Bible, too, lies nigh it,^^ - 
Unsold — because no one would buy it. 

" My manuscripts, in prose and verse, 
They take for better and for worse ; 
Their minds enlighten with the best, 
And pipes and candles with the rest ; 
Provided that from them they cull 
My college exercises dull. 
On threadbare theme, with mind unwilling, 
Strained out through fear of fine one shilling, 
To teachers paid t' avert an evil. 
Like Indian worship to the Devil. 
The above-named manuscripts, I say. 
To club aforesaid I convey. 
Provided that said themes, so given, 
Full proofs that genius won't be driven. 
To our physicians be presented. 
As the best opiates yet invented. 

" Item. The government of college. 
Those liberal helluos of knowledge, 
Who, e'en in these degenerate days, 
Deserve the world's unceasing praise ; 



AND CUSTOMS. 479 

Who, friends of science and of men, 
Stand forth Gomorrah's righteous ten ; 
On them I naught but thanks bestow, 
For, like my cash, my credit 's low ; 
So I can give nor clothes nor wines. 
But bid them welcome to my fines. 

" Item. My study desk of pine, 
That work-bench, sacred to the nine, 
Which oft hath groaned beneath my metre, 
I give to pay ray debts to Peter. 

" Item. Two penknives with white handles, 
A bunch of quills, and pound of candles, 
A lexicon compiled by Cole, 
A pewter spoon, and earthen bowl, 
A hammer, and two homespun towels, 
For which I yearn with tender bowels, 
Since I no longer can control them, 
I leave to those sly lads who stole them. 

" Item. A gown much greased in Commons, 
A hat between a man's and woman's, 
A tattered coat of college blue, 
A fustian waistcoat torn in two. 
With all my rust, through college carried, 
I give to classmate O ,* who 's married. 

" Item. C P s f has my knife. 

During his natural college life, — 

That knife, which ugliness inherits, 

And due to his superior merits ; 

And when from Harvard he shall steer, 

I order him to leave it here. 

That 't may from class to class descend, 

TiU time and ugliness shall end. 

" The said C P s, humor's son. 

Who long shall stay when I am gone, 

^ Jesse Olds, a classmate, afterwards a clergyman in a country town. 

t Charles Prentiss, a member of the Junior Class when this was writ- 
ten ; afterwards editor of the Eural Repository. — Buckingham'' s Rem- 
iniscences, Vol. II. pp. 273 - 275. 



480 COLLEGE WORDS - 

The Muses' most successful suitor, 
I constitute my executor ; 
And for his trouble to requite him, 
Member of Laughing Club I write him. 

" Myself on life's broad sea I throw. 
Sail with its joy, or stem Its woe, 
No other friend to take my part, 
Than careless head and honest heart. 
My purse is drained, my debts are paid. 
My glass is run, my will is made. 
To beauteous Cam. I bid adieu. 
And with the world begin anew." 

Following the example of his friend Biglow, Mr. Prentiss, 
on leaving college, prepared a will, which afterwards appeared 
in one of the earliest numbers of the Rural Repository, a 
literary paper, the publication of whidtl^e commenced at 
Leominster, Mass., in the autumn of 1795. Thomas Paine, 
afterwards Robert Treat Paine, Jr., immediately transferred 
it to the columns of the Federal Orrery, which paper he 
edited, with these introductory remarks : " Having, in the 
second number of ' Omnium Gatherum ' presented to our 
readers the last will and testament of Charles Chatterbox, 
Esq., of witty memory, wherein the said Charles, now de- 
ceased, did lawfully bequeath to Ch s Pr s the cele- 
brated 'Ugly Knife,' to be by him transmitted, at his col- 
legiate demise, to the next succeeding candidate ; and 

whereas the said Ch s Pr s, on the 21st of June 

last, departed his aforesaid ' college life^ thereby leaving to 
the inheritance of his successor the valuable legacy, which 
his illustrious friend had bequeathed, as an entailed estate^ to 
the poets of the university, — we have thought proper to 
insert a full, true, and attested copy of the will of the last 
deceased heir, in order that the world may be furpished with 
a correct genealogy of this renowned jach-hiife, whose pedi- 
gree will become as illustrious in after time as the family of 
the ' RoLLES,' and which will be celebrated by future wits as 
the most formidable iveapon of modern genius." 



AND CUSTOMS. 481 

"A WILL; 
Being the last Words of Ch s Pr s, late worthy 

AND MUCH LAMENTED MeMBER OF THE LaUGHING ClUB OP 

Harvard University, who departed College Life on 
THE 21ST OF June, 1795. 

" I, Pr s Ch s, of judgment sound, 

In soul, in limb and wind, now found ; 

1, since my head is full of wit. 

And must be emptied, or must split, 

In name oi president Apollo, 

And other gentle folks, that follow : 

Such as IJRAisriA and Clio, 

To whom my fame poetic I owe ; 

With the whole drove of rhyming sisters, 

For whom my heart with rapture blisters ; 

Who swim in Helicon uncertain 

Whether a petticoat or shirt on. 

From vulgar ken their charms do cover, 

From every eye but Muses' lover ; 

In name of every ugly God ; 

Whose beauty scarce outshines a toad ; 

In name of Proserpine and Pluto, 

Who board in hell's sublimest grotto ; 

In name of Cerberus and Furies, 

Those damned aristocrats and tories ; 

In presence of two witnesses. 

Who are as homely as you please, 

Who are in truth, I 'd not belie 'em, 

Ten times as ugly, faith, as I am ; 

But being, as most people tell us, 

A pair of jolly clever fellows. 

And classmates likewise, at tliis time, 

They sha'n't be honored in my rhyme. 

I — I say I, now make this will ; 

Let those whom I assign fulfil. 

I give, grant, render, and convey 

My goods and chattels thus away : 

That Jionor of a college life, 

That celebrated Ugly Knife, 

Which predecessor Sawney * orders, 

* William Biglow was known in college by the name of Sawney, 
41 



482 COLLEGE WORDS 

Descending to time's 

To noblest hard of Jiomeliest pJiiz, 

To have and hold and use as his ; 

I now present C s P j S r,* 

To keep with his poetic lumber, 

To scrape his quid, and make a split, 

To pointhis pen for sharpening wit ; 

And order that he ne'er abuse 

Said Ugly Knife, in dirtier use, 

And let said Charles, that best of writers, 

In prose satiric skilled to bite us, 

And equally in verse delight us, 

Take special care to keep it clean 

From unpoetic hands, — I ween. 

And when those walls, the Muses' seat, 

Said S r is obliged to quit, 

Let some one of Apollo's firing. 
To such heroic joys aspiring. 
Who long has borne a poet's name. 
With said knife cut his way to fame. 

" I give to those that fish for parts, 
Long sleepless nights, and aching hearts, 
A little soul, a fawning spirit. 
With half a grain of plodding merit, 
Which is, as Heaven I hope will say, 
Giving what 's not my own away. 

" Those oven baked or goose egg folded, 
Who, though so often I have told it. 
With all my documents to show it. 
Will scarce believe that I 'm a poet, 
I give of criticism the lens 
With half an ounce of common sense. 

" And 't would a breach be of humanity, 
Not to bequeath D n f my vanity ; 

and was frequently addressed by this sobriquet in after life, by his famil- 
iar friends. 

* Charles Pinckney Sumner, — afterwards a lawyer in Boston, and 
for many years Sheriff of the County of Suffolk. 

t Theodore Dehon, afterwards a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, 
and Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. 



AND CUSTOMS. 483 

For 't is a rule direct from Heaven, 
To him that hath, more shall he given. 

" Item. Tom M n * College Lion, 

Who 'd ne'er spend cash enough to buy one, 

The Boanerges of a pun, 

A man of science and of fun, 

That quite uncommon witty elf. 

Who darts his bolts and shoots himself, 

Who oft hath bled beneath my jokes, 

I give my old tohacco-hox. 

" My Centinels f for some years past, 
So neatly bound with thread and paste. 
Exposing Jacobinic tricks, 
I give my clmm for 2Jolitics. 

" My neckcloth, dirty, old, yet strong^ 
That round my neck has lasted long, 
I give Big Boy, for deed of pith, 
Namely, to hang himself therewith. 

" To those who 've parts at exhibition 
Obtained by long, unwearied fishing, 
I say, to such unlucky wretches, 
I give, for wear, a brace of breeches ; 
Then used ; as they 'r© but little tore, 
I hope they 11 show their tails no more. 

" And ere it quite has gone to rot, 

I, B give my blue great-coat, 

With all its rags, and dirt, and tallow, 
Because he 's such a dirty fellow. 

^ Thomas Mason, a member of the class after Prentiss, said to be 
the greatest wrestler that was ever in College. He was settled as a cler- 
gyman at Northfiekl, Mass. ; resigned his office some years after, and 
several times represented that town in the Legislature of Massachusetts. 
See under Wrestling-Match. 

t The Columbian Centinel, published at Boston, of which Benjamin 
Russell was the editor. 



484 COLLEGE WORDS 

" Now for my books ; first, Bunyan's Pilgrim^ 
(As he with thankful pleasure will grin,) 
Though dog-leaved, torn, in bad type set in, 

'T will do quite well for classmate B , 

And thus, with complaisance to treat her, 
'T will answer for another Detur. 

" To him that occupies my study, 
1 give, for use of making toddy, 
A bottle full of ichite-face Stingo, 
Another, handy, called a mingo. 
My wit, as I 've enough to spare, 
And many much in want there are, 
I ne'er intend to keep at liome, " 
But give to those that handiest come. 
Having due caution, loliere and wlien, 
Never to spatter gentlemen. 
The world's loud call I can't refuse, 
The fine productions of my muse ; 
If impudence to fame shall waft her, 
I '11 give the public all, hereafter. 
My love-songs, sorrowful, complaining, 
(The recollection puts me pain in,) 
The last sad groans of deep despair, 
That once could all my entrails tear ; 
My farewell sermon to the ladies ; 
My satire on a woman's head-dress ; 
My epigram so fuU of glee. 
Pointed as epigrams should be ; 
My sonnets soft, and sweet as lasses, 
My Geography of Mount Parnassus ; 
With all the bards that round it gather, 
And variations of the weather ; 
Containing more true humorous satire, 
Than 's oft the lot of human nature ; 
(' O dear, what can the matter be ! ' 
I 've given away my vanity ; 
The vessel can't so much contain, 
It runs o'er and comes back again.) 
My blank verse, poems so majestic. 
My rhymes heroic, tales agrestic ; 
The whole, I say, I '11 overhaul 'em, 
Collect and publish in a volume. 



AND CUSTOMS. 485 

" My heart, which thousand ladies crave, 
That I intend my wife shall have. 
I 'd give my foibles to the wind, 
And leave my vices all behind ; 
But much I fear they '11 to me stick, 
Where'er I go, through thin and thick. 
On Wisdom's liorse, oh, might I ride. 
Whose steps let Prudence' bridle guide. 
Thy loudest voice, O Eeason, lend, 
And thou. Philosophy, befriend. 
May candor all my actions guide. 
And o'er my every thought preside, 
And in thy ear, O Fortune, one word. 
Let thy swelled canvas bear me onward, 
Thy favors let me ever see. 
And I '11 be much obliged to thee ; 
And come with blooming visage meek. 
Come, Health, and ever flush my cheek ; 
O bid me in the morning rise, 
When tinges Sol the eastern skies ; 
At breakfast, supper-time, or dinner. 
Let me against thee be no sinner. 

" And when the glass of life is run. 
And I behold my setting sun, 
May conscience sound be my protection. 
And no ungrateful recollection. 
No gnawing cares nor tumbling woes, 
Disturb the quiet of life's close. 
And when Death's gentle feet shall come 
To bear me to my endless home, 
Oh ! may my soul, should Heaven but save it. 
Safely return to God who gave it." 
Federal Orrery, Oct. 29, 1795. Buckingham's Remi- 
niscences, Vol. H. pp. 228-231, 268-273. 

It is probable that the idea of a " College Will " was sug- 
gested to Biglow by "Father Abbey's Will," portions of 
which, till the present generation, were " familiar to nearly 
all the good housewives of New England." From the his- 
tory of this poetical production, which has been lately printed 
41* 



486 COLLEGE WORDS 

for private circulation by the Rev. John Langdon Sibley of 
Harvard College, the annexed transcript of the instrument 
itself, together with the love-letter which was suggested by it, 
has been taken. The instances in which the accepted text 
differs from a Broadside copy, in the possession of the editor 
of this work, are noted at the foot of the page. 

" FATHER ABBEY'S WILL : 

To WHICH IS NOW ADDED, A LeTTER OP CoURTSHIP TO HIS 
VIRTUOUS AND AMIABLE WiDOW. 

" Camdridge, Deceinber, 1730. 
" Some time since died here Mr. Matthew Abbey, in a very ad- 
vanced age : He had for a great number of years served the Col- 
lege in quaUty of Bedmaker and Sweeper : Having no child, his 
wife inherits his whole estate, which he bequeathed to her by his 
last will and testament, as follows, viz. : — 

" To my dear wife 

My joy and life, 
I freely now do give her, 

My whole estate. 

With all my plate. 
Being just about to leave her. 

"My tub of soap, 
: A long cart-rope, 

A frying pan and kettle, 

An ashes * pail, 

A threshing-flail. 
An iron wedge and beetle. 

" Two painted chairs, 

Nine warden pears, 
A large old dripping platter, 

This bed of hay 

On which I lay, 
An old saucepan for butter. 



A two-quart jug, 



* " Ashen," on Ed.^s Broadside. 



AND CUSTOMS. 487 

A bottle full of brandy, 

A looking-glass 

To see your face, 
You '11 find it very bandy. 

" A musket true, 

As ever flew, 
A pound of shot and wallet, 

A leather sash. 

My calabash. 
My powder-horn and bullet. 

" An old sword-blade, 

A garden spade, 
A hoe, a rake, a ladder, 

A wooden can, 

A close-stool pan, 
A clyster-pipe and bladder. 

" A greasy hat. 

My old ram cat, 
A yard and half of Unen, 

A woollen fleece, 

A pot of grease,* 
In order for your spinning, 

'' A small tooth comb. 

An ashen broom, 
A candlestick and hatchet, 

A coverlid 

Striped down with red, 
A bag of rags to patch it. 

" A rugged mat, 

A tub of fat, 
A book put out by Bunyan, 

Another book 

By Robin Cook, f 
A skein or two of spun-yarn. 

*" A pot of grease, 

A woollen fleece." — Ed's Broadside. 
t " Rook," — Ed:s Broadside. " Hook." — Gent. Mag., May, 1 732. 



4:88 COLLEGE AVORDS 

" An old black mufi', 

Some gai'den stuff, 
A quantity of borage, * 

Some devil's weed. 

And burdock seed. 
To season well your porridge. 

" A chafing-dish. 

With one salt-fish 
If I am not mistaken, 

A leg of pork, 

A broken fork, 
And half a flitch of bacon. 

" A spinning-wheel, 

One peck of meal, 
A knife without a handle, 

A rusty lamp. 

Two quarts of samp. 
And half a tallow candle. 

" My pouch and pipes, 

Two oxen tripes, 
An oaken dish well carved. 

My little dog, 

And spotted hog, 
With two young pigs just starved. 

" This is my store, 

I have no more, 
I heartily do give it : 

My years are spun, 

My days are done, 
And so I think to leave it. 

" Thus Father Abbey left his spouse, 
As rich as church or college mouse, 
Which is sufficient invitation 
To serve the college in his station." 

* " Burrage.'' — Ed.'s Broadside. 



AND CUSTOMS. 489 

'■'■ Newhaven^ January 2, 1731. 
" Our sweeper having lately buried his spouse, and accidentally 
hearing of the death and will of his deceased Cambridge brother, 
has conceived a violent passion for the relict. As love softens the 
mind and disposes to poetry, he has eased himself in the following 
strains, which he transmits to the charming widow, as the first 
essay of his love and courtship. 

" MiSTKESS Abbey 

To you I fly, 
You only can relieve me ; 

To you I turn. 

For you I burn, 
If you will but believe me. 

" Then, gentle dame. 

Admit my flame. 
And grant me my petition ; 

If you deny, 

Alas ! I die 
In pitiful condition. 

" Before the news 

Of your dear spouse 
Had reached us at New Haven, 

My dear wife dy'd, 

Who was my bride 
In anno eighty-seven. 

" Thus * being free, 

Let 's both agree 
To join our hands, for I do 

Boldly aver 

A widower 
Is fittest for a widow. 

" You may be sure 

'T is not your dower 
I make this flowing verse on ; 

In these smooth lays 

I only praise 
The glories f of your person. 

'* " That/' —Ed:s Broadside. t « Beauties." — Ed.'s Broadside. 



490 COLLEGE WORDS 

" For the whole that 

Was left by * Mat 
Fortune to me has granted 

In equal store, 

I 've t one thing more 
Which Matthew long had wanted. 

" No teeth, 't is true, 

You have to shew, 
The young think teeth inviting ; 

But silly youths ! 

I love those mouths %- 
Where there 's no fear of biting. 

" A leaky eye, 

That 's never dry. 
These woful times is fitting. 

A wrinkled face 

Adds solemn grace 
To folks devout at meeting. 

" [A furrowed brow. 

Where corn might grow, 
Such fertile soil is seen in 't, 

A long hook nose. 

Though scorned by foes, 
For spectacles convenient.] § 

" Thus to go on 

I would II put down 
Your charms from head to foot, 

Set all your glory 

In verse before ye. 
But I 've no mind to do 't. ^ 

■^ " My." — Ed.'s Broadside. 
t " I 've " omitted in Ed's Broadside. 
Nay, I 've two more 
What Matthew always wanted. — Gent. Mag., June, 1732. 
J " But silly youth, 

I love the mouth." — Ed.'s Broadside. 
§ This stanza, although found in the London Magazine, does not ap- 
pear in the Gentleman's Magazine, or on the Editor's Broadside. It is 
probably an interpolation, 

II " Cou'd." — Gent. Mag., June, 1 732. IT " Do it." — Ed.'s Broadside. 



AND CUSTOMS. 491 

" Then haste away, 

And make no stay ; 
For soon as you come hither, 

We '11 eat and sleep, 

Make beds and sweep. 
And talk and smoke together. 

" But if, my dear, 

I must move there, 
Tow'rds Cambridge straight 1 '11 set me. * 

To touse the hay 

On which you lay, 
If age and you will let me." f 

The authorship of Father Abbey's AVill and the Letter of 
Courtship is ascribed to the Rev. John Seccombe, who grad- 
uated at Harvard College in the year 1728. The former 
production was sent to England through the hands of Gov- 
ernor Belcher, and in May, 1732, appeared both in the Gen- 
tleman's Magazine and the London Magazine. The latter 
was also despatched to England, and was printed in the Gen- 
tleman's Magazine for June, and in the London Magazine 
for August, 1732. Both were republished in the Massachu- 
setts Magazine, November, 1794. A most entertaining ac- 
count of the author of these poems, and of those to whom 
they relate, may be found in the " Historical and Biographi- 
cal Notes " of the pamphlet to which allusion has been al- 
ready made, and in the " Cambridge [Mass.] Chronicle " of 
April 28, 1855. 

WINE. To drink wine. 

After " wining " to a certain extent, we sallied forth from his 
rooms. — Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 14. 

Hither they repair each day after dinner " to ivine" 

Ibid., Vol. I. p. 95. 
After dinner I had the honor of iDining with no less a personage 
than a fellow of the college. — Ibid., Vol. I. p. 114. 

* " Tow'rds Cambridge I '11 get thee." — Ed.'s Broadside. 
t "If, madam, you will let me." — Gent. Mag., June, 1732. 



492 COLLEGE AYOEDS 

In wining with a fair one opposite, a luckless piece of jelly ad- 
hered to the tip of his still more luckless nose. — The Blank Book 
of a Small- Colleger, New York, 1824, p. 75. 

WINE PARTY. Among students at the University of Cam- 
bridge, Eng., an entertainment after dinner, which is thus 
described by Bristed : "Many assemble at ivine parties to 
chat over a frugal dessert of oranges, biscuits, and cake, and 
sip a few glasses of not remarkably good wine. These wine 
parties are the most common entertainments, being rather the 
cheapest and very much the most convenient, for the prepara- 
tions required for them are so slight as not to disturb the 
studies of the hardest reading man, and they take place at a 
time when no one pretends to do any work." — Five Years 
in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 21. 

WIRE. At Harvard College, a trick ; an artifice ; a strata- 
gem ; a dodge. 

WIRY. Trickish ; artful. 

WITENA GEMOTE. Saxon, wita7i, to know, and gemot, a 
meeting, a council. 

In the University of Oxford, the weekly meeting of the 
heads of the colleges. — Oxford Guide. 

WOODEN SPOON. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
the scholar whose name stands last of all on the printed list 
of honors, at the Bachelors' Commencement in January, is 
scoffingly said to gain the wooden spoon. He is also very 
currently himself called the wooden spoon. 

A young academic coming into the country immediately after 
this great competition, in which he had conspicuously distinguished 
himself, was asked by a plain country gentleman, " Pray, Sir, is 
my Jack a Wrangler ? " " No, Sir." Now Jack had confidently 
pledged himself to his uncle that he would take his degree with 
honor. " A Senior Optime ? " " No, Sir." " Why, what was he 
then?" "Wooden Spoon!" "Best suited to his wooden head," 
said the mortified inquirer. — Forhfs Vocahulary, Vol. 11. p. 253. 

It may not perhaps be improper to mention one very remarkable 
personage, I mean " the Wooden Spoon." This luckless wight 
(for what cause I know not) is annually the universal butt and 



AND CUSTOMS. 493 

laugliing-stock of the whole Senate- House. He is the last of those 
young men who take honors, in his year, and is called a Junior 
Optime ; yet, notwithstanding his being in fact superior to them all, 
the very lowest of the ol ttoXXol, or gregarious undistinguished 
bachelors, think themselves entitled to shoot the pointless arrows of 
their clumsy wit against the wooden spoon ; and to reiterate the 
stale and perennial remark, that " Wranglers are born with gold 
spoons in their mouths. Senior Optimes with silver. Junior Optimes 
with wooden^ and the ol iroXkoi with leaden ones." — Gent. Mag., 
1795, p. 19. 

Who while he lives must wield the boasted prize, 
Whose value all can feel, the weak, the wise ; 
Displays in triumph his distinguished boon. 
The solid honors of the wooden spoo7i. 

Grad. ad Cantab., p. 119. 

2. At Yale College, this title is conferred on the student 
who takes the last appointment at the Junior Exhibition. 
The following account of the ceremonies incident to the pre- 
sentation of the Wooden Spoon lias been kindly furnished by 
a graduate of that institution. 

" At Yale College the honors, or, as they are there termed, 
appointments, are given to a class twice during the course ; 
— upon the merits of the two preceding years, at the end of 
the first term, Junior; and at the end of the second term. 
Senior, upon the merits of the whole college course. There 
are about eight grades of appointments, the lowest of which 
is the Third Colloquy. Each grade has its own standard, 
and if a number of students have attained to the same de- 
gree, they receive the same appointment. It is rarely the 
case, however, that more than one student can claim the dis- 
tinction of a third colloquy ; but when there are several, the}^ 
draw lots to see which is entitled to be considered properly 
the third colloquy man. 

" After the Junior appointments are awarded, the members 
of the Junior Class hold an exhibition similar to the regular 
Junior exhibition, and present a wooden spoon to the man 
who received the lowest honor in the gift of the Faculty. 

" The exhibition takes place in the evening, at some public 
42 



494 COLLEGE WORDS 

hall in towrx. Except to those engaged in the arrangements, 
nothing is known about it among the students at large, until 
the evening of the performances, when notices of the hour 
and place are quietly circulated at prayers, in order that it 
may not reach the ears of the Faculty, who are ever too ready 
to participate in the sports of the students, and to make the 
result tell unfavorably against the college welfare of the more 
prominent characters. 

" As the appointed hour approaches, long files of black 
coats may be seen emerging from the dark halls, and wind- 
ing their way through the classic elms towards the Temple, 
the favorite scene of students' exhibitions and secret festivals. 
When they reach the door, each man must undergo the 
searching scrutiny of the door-keeper, usually disguised as 
an Indian, to avoid being recognized by a college officer, 
should one chance to be in the crowd, and no one is allowed 
to enter unless he is known. 

" By the time the hour of the exercises has arrived, the 
hall is densely packed with undergraduates and professional 
students. The President, who is a non-appointment man, 
and probably the poorest scholar in the class, sits on a 
stage with his associate professors. Appropriate programmes, 
printed in the college style, are scattered throughout the 
house. As the hour strikes, the President arises with be- 
coming dignity, and, instead of the usual phrase, 'Musicam 
audeamus,' restores order among the audience by ' Silentiam 
audearaus,' and then addresses the band, ' Musica cantetur.' 

" Then follow a series of burlesque orations, dissertations, 
and disputes, upon scientific and other subjects, from the 
wittiest and cleverest men in the class, and the house is kept 
in a continual roar of laughter. The highest appointment 
men frequently take part in the speeches. From time to 
time the band play, and the College choir sing pieces com- 
posed for the occasion. In one of the best, called Audacia, 
composed in imitation of the Crambambuli song, by a mem- 
ber of the class to which the writer belonged, the Wooden 
Spoon is referred to in the following stanza : — 



AND CUSTOMS. 495 

* But do not think our life is aimless ; 

O no ! we crave one blessed boon, 
It is the prize of value nameless, 

The honored, classic Wooden Spoon ; 
But give us this, we '11 shout Hurrah ! 

O nothing like Audacia ! ' 

"After the speeches are concluded and the music has 
ceased, the President rises and calls the name of the hero of 
the evening, who ascends the stage and stands before the 
high dignitary. The President then congratulates him upon 
having attained to so eminent a position, and speaks of the 
pride that he and his associates feel in conferring upon him 
the highest honor in their gift, — the Wooden Spoon. He 
exhorts him to pursue through life the noble cruise he has 
commenced in College, — not seeking glory as one of the 
illiterate, — the ol noWoi, — nor exactly on the fence, but so 
near to it that he may safely be said to have gained the 
* happy medium.' 

" The President then proceeds to the grand ceremony of 
the evening, — the delivery of the Wooden Spoon, — a 
handsomely finished spoon, or ladle, with a long handle, on 
which is carved the -name of the Class, and the rank and 
honor of the recipient, and the date of its presentation. The 
President confers the honor in Latin, provided he and his 
associates are able to muster a sufficient number of sentences. 

" When the President resumes his seat, the Third Collo- 
quy man thanks his eminent instructors for the honor con- 
ferred upon him, and thanks (often with sincerity) the class 
for the distinction he enjoys. The exercises close with music 
by the band, or a burlesque colloquy. On one occasion, the 
colloquy was announced upon the programme as ' A Prac- 
tical Illustration of Humbugging,' with a long list of witty 
men as speakers, to appear in original costumes. Curiosity 
was very much excited, and expectation on the tiptoe, when 
the colloquy became due. The audience waited and waited 
until sufficiently humhugged, when they were allowed to re- 
tire with the laugh turned against them. 



496 COLLEGE WORDS 

" Many men prefer the Wooden Spoon to any other 
college honor or prize, because it comes directly from their 
classmates, and hence, perhaps, the Faculty disapprove of 
it, considering it as a damper to ambition and college distinc- 
tions." 

This account of the Wooden Spoon Exhibition was writ- 
ten in the year 1851. Since then its privacy has been 
abolished, and its exercises are no longer forbidden by the 
Faculty. Tutors are now not unfrequently among the spec- 
tators at the presentation, and even ladies lend their presence, 
attention, and applause, to beautify, temper, and enUven the 
occasion. 

The " Wooden Spoon" tradition says, was in ancient times 
presented to the greatest glutton in the class, by his appre- 
ciating classmates. It is now given to the one whose name 
comes last on the list of appointees for the Junior Exhibition, 
though this rule is not strictly followed. The presentation 
takes place during the Summer Term, and in vivacity with 
respect to the literary exercises, and brilliance in point of au- 
dience, forms a rather formidable rival to the regularly author- 
ized Junior Exhibition. — Songs of Tale, Preface, 1853, p. 4. 

Of the songs which are sung in connection with the wooden 
spoon presentation, the following is given as a specimen. 

" Air, — Yankee Doodle. 

" Come, Juniors, join this jolly tune 
Our fathers sang before us ; 
And praise aloud the wooden spoon 
In one long, swelling chorus. 

Yes ! let us. Juniors, shout and sing 

The spoon and all its glory, — 
Until the welkin loudly ring 
And echo back the story. 

" Who would not place this precious boon 
Above the Greek Oration ? 
Who would not choose the wooden spoon 
Before a dissertation ? 
Then, let, &c. 



AND CUSTOMS. 497 

" Some pore o'er classic works jejune, 
Through all their life at College, — 
I would not pour, but use the spoon 
To fill my mind with knowledge. 
So let, &c. 

" And if I ever have a son 
Upon my knee to dandle, 
I '11 feed him with a wooden spoon 
Of elongated handle. 
Then let, &c. 

" Most college honors vanish soon, 
Alas ! returning never, 
But such a noble wooden spoon 
Is tangible for ever. 
So let, &c. 

" Now give, in honor of the spoon. 

Three cheers, long, loud, and hearty, 
And three for every honored June 
In coch-le-au-re-a-ti. * 
Yes ! let us, Juniors, shout and sing 

The spoon and all its glory, — 
Until the welkin loudly ring 
And echo back the story." 

Songs of Yale, 1853, p. 37. 

WRANGLER. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., at the 
conclusion of the tenth term, the final examination in the 
Senate-House takes place. A certain number of those who 
pass this examination in the best manner are called Wran- 
glers. 

The usual number of Wranglers — whatever Wrangler may 
have meant once, it now implies a First Class man in Mathematics 
— is thirty-seven or thirty-eight. Sometimes it falls to thirty-five, 
and occasionally rises above forty. — BristecCs Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 227. 

See Senior Wrangler. 

WRANGLERSHIP. The office of a Wrangler. 

* See COCHLEAUREATUS. 

42* 



498 COLLEGE TrdKDS 

He may be considered pretty safe for the highest Wranglersliip 
out of Trinity. — Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, 
p. 103. 

WRESTLING-MATCH. At Harvard College, it was for- 
merly the custom, on the first Monday of the term succeeding 
the Commencement vacation, for the Sophomores to challenge 
the Freshmen who had just entered College to a wrestling- 
match. A writer in the New England Magazine, 1832, in 
an article entitled " Harvard College Forty Years Ago," re- 
marks as follows on this subject: "Another custom, not 
enjoined by the government, had been in vogue from time 
immemorial. That was for the Sophomores to challenge the 
Freshmen to a wrestling-match. If the Sophomores were 
thrown, the Juniors gave a similar challenge. If these were 
conquered, the Seniors entered the lists, or treated the victors 
to as much wine, punch, &c. as they chose to drink. In my 
class, there were few who had either taste, skill, or bodily- 
strength for this exercise, so that we were easily laid on our 
backs, and the Sophomores were acknowledged our superiors, 
in so far as ' brute force ' was concerned. Being disgusted 
with these customs, we held a class-meeting, early in our first 
quarter, and voted unanimously that we should never send a 
Freshman on an errand ; and, with but one dissenting voice, 
that we would not challenge the next class that should enter 
to wrestle. When the latter vote was passed, our moderator, 
pointing at the dissenting individual with the finger of scorn, 
declared it to be a vote, nemine contradicente. We com- 
menced Sophomores, another Freshman Class entered, the 
Juniors challenged them, and were thrown. The Seniors 
invited them to a treat, and these barbarous customs were 
soon after abolished." — Vol. III. p. 239. 

The Freshman Class above referred to, as superior to the 
Junior, was the one which graduated in 1796, of which Mr. 
Thomas Mason, surnamed " the College Lion," was a mem- 
ber, — "said," remarks Mr. Buckingham, " to be the greatest 
wrestler that was ever in College. He was settled as a cler- 
gyman at Northfield, Mass., resigned his office some years 



AND CUSTOMS. 499 

after, and several times represented that town in the Legis- 
lature of Massachusetts." Charles Prentiss, the wit of the 
Class of '95, in a will written on his departure from college 
life, addresses Mason as follows : — 

" Item. Tom M n, College Lion, 

Who 'd ne'er spend cash enough to buy one. 

The Boanerges of a pun, 

A man of science and of fun, 

That quite uncommon witty elf, 

Who darts his bolts and shoots himself. 

Who oft has bled beneath my jokes, 

I give my old tobacco-hox." 

Buckingham's Reminiscences., Vol. 11. p. 271. 

The fame which Mr. Mason had acquired while in College 
for bodily strength and skill in wrestling, did not desert him 
after he left. While settled as a minister at Northfield, a 
party of young men from Vermont challenged the young men 
of that town to a bout at wrestling. The challenge was ac- 
cepted, and on a given day the two parties assembled at 
Northfield. After several rounds, when it began to appear 
that the Vermonters were gaining the advantage, a proposal 
was made, by some who had heard of Mr. Mason's exploits, 
that he should be requested to take part in the contest. It 
had now grown late, and the minister, who usually retired 
early, had already betaken himself to bed. Being informed 
of the request of the wrestlers, for a long time he refused t0| 
go, alleging as reasons his ministerial capacity, the force of 
example, &c. Finding these excuses of no avail, he finally 
arose, dressed himself, and repaired to the scene of action. 
Shouts greeted him on his arrival, and he found himself on 
the wrestling-field, as he had stood years ago at Cambridge. 
The champion of the Vermonters came forward, flushed with 
his former victories. After playing around him for some 
time, Mr. Mason finally threw him. Having by this tune 
collected' his ideas of the game, when another antagonist ap- 
peared, tripping up his heels with perfect ease, he suddenly 
twitched him off his centre and laid him on his back. Vic- 



500 COLLEGE WORDS 

toiy was declared in favor of Northfield, and the good minis- 
ter was borne home in triumph. 

Similar to these statements are those of Professor Sidney 
Willard relative to the same subject, contained in his late 
work entitled " Memories of Youth and Manhood." Speak- 
ing of the observances in vogue at Harvard College in the 
year 1794, he says : — "Next to bemg indoctrinated in the Cus- 
toms, so called, by the Sophomore Class, there followed the 
usual annual exhibition of the athletic contest between that 
class and the Freshman Class, namely, the wrestling-match. 
On some day of the second week in the term, after evening 
prayers, the two classes assembled on the play-ground and 
formed an extended circle, from whicli a stripling of the Soph- 
omore Class advanced into the area, and, in terms justifying 
the vulgar use of the derivative word Sophomorical, defied his 
competitors, in the name of his associates, to enter the lists. 
He was matched by an equal in stature, from that part of the 
circle formed by the new-comers. Beginning with these puny 
athletes, as one and another was prostrated on either side, 
the contest advanced through the intermediate gradations of 
strength and skill, with increasing excitement of the parties 
and spectators, until it reached its summit by the struggle of 
the champion or coryphaeus in reserve on each of the opposite 
sides. I cannot now affirm with certainty the result of the 
contest ; whether it was a drawn battle, whether it ended 
with the day, or was postponed for another trial. It probably 
ended in the defeat of the younger party, for there were more 
and mightier men among their opponents. Had we been vic- 
torious, it would have behooved us, according to established 
precedents, to challenge the Junior Class, which was not done. 
Such a result, if it had taken place, could not fade from the 
memory of the victors ; while failure, on the contrary, being 
an issue to be looked for, would soon be dismissed from the 
thoughts of the vanquished. Instances had occurred of the 
triumph of the Freshman Class, and one of them recent, when 
a challenge in due form was sent to the Juniors, who, think- 
ing the contest too doubtful, wisely resolved to let the victors 



AND CUSTOMS. 501 

rejoice in their laurels already won ; and, declining to meet 
them in the gymnasium, invited them to a sumptuous feast 
instead. 

" Wrestling was, at an after period, I cannot say in what 
year, superseded by football; a grovelling and inglorious 
game in comparison. Wrestling is an art; success in the 
exercise depends not on mere bodily strength. It had, at the 
time of which I have spoken, its well-known and acknowl- 
edged technical rules, and any violation of them, alleged 
against one who had prostrated his adversary, became a mat- 
ter of inquiry. If it was found that the act was not achieved 
secundum artem, it was void, and might be followed by an- 
other trial." — Vol. I. pp. 260, 261. 

Eemarks on this subject are continued in another part of 
the work from which the above extract is made, and the story 
of Thomas Mason is related, with a few variations from the 
generally received version. " Wrestling," says Professor 
Willard, " was reduced to an art, which had its technical 
terms for the movement of the limbs, and the manner of 
using them adroitly, with the skill acquired by practice in 
applying muscular force at the right time and in the right de- 
gree. Success in the art, therefore, depended partly on skill ; 
and a violation of the rules of the contest vitiated any appar- 
ent triumph gained by mere physical strength. There were 
traditionary accounts of some of our predecessors who were 
commemorated as among the coryphaei of wrestlers; a re- 
nown that was not then looked upon with contempt. The 
art of wrestling was not then confined to the literary gym- 
nasium. It was practised in every rustic village. There 
were even migrating braves and Hectors, who, in their wan- 
derings from their places of abode to villages more or less 
distant, defied the chiefest of this order of gymnasts to enter 
the lists. In a country town of Massachusetts remote from 
the capital, one of these wanderers appeared about half a 
century since, and issued a general challenge against the fore- 
most wrestlers. The clergyman of the town, a son of Har- 
vard, whose fame in this particular had travelled from the 



502 COLLEGE WORDS 

academic to the rustic green, was apprised of the challenge, 
and complied with the solicitation of some of his young pa- 
rishioners to accept it in their behalf. His triumph over the 
challenger was completed without agony or delay, and having 
prostrated him often enough to convince him of his folly, he 
threw him over the stone wall, and gravely admonished him 
against repeating his visit, and disturbing the peace of his 
parish." — Vol. I. p. 315. 

The peculiarities of Thomas Mason were his most notice- 
able characteristics. As an orator, his eloquence was of the 
ore rotundo order ; as a writer, his periods were singularly 
Johnsonian. He closed his ministerial labors in Northfield, 
February 28, 1830, on which occasion he delivered a fare- 
well discourse, taking for his text, the words of Paul to Tim- 
othy : " The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought 
a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ; 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." 

As a specimen of his style of writing, the following passages 
are presented, taken from this discourse : — " Time, which 
forms the scene of all human enterprise, solicitude, toil, and 
improvement, and which fixes the limitations of all human 
pleasures and sufferings, has at length conducted us to th6 
termination of our long-protracted alliance. An assignment 
of the reasons of this measure must open a field too extended 
and too diversified for our present survey. Nor could a de- 
velopment of the whole be any way interesting to us, to whom 
alone this address is now submitted. Sufiice it to say, that in 
the lively exercise of mutual and unimpaired friendship and 
confidence, the contracting parties, after sober, continued, and 
unimpassioned deliberation, have yielded to existing circum- 
stances, as a problematical expedient of social blessing." 

After commenting upon the declaration of Paul, he con- 
tinued : " The Apostle proceeds, 'I have fought a good fight.' 
Would to God I could say the same ! Let me say, however, 
without the fear of contradiction, ' I have fought a fight ! ' 
How far it has been ' good,' I forbear to decide." His sum- 
ming up was this : " You see, my hearers, all I can say, ixx 



AND CUSTOMS. 503 

common with the Apostle in the text, is this : ' The time 
of my departure is at hand,' — and, ' I have finished my 
course.' " 

Referring then to the situation which he had occupied, he 
said : " The scene of our alHance and co-operation, my friends, 
has been one of no ordinary cast and character. The last 
half-century has been pregnant with novelty, project, innova- 
tion, and extreme excitement. The pillars of the social edi- 
fice have been shaken, and the whole social atmosphere has 
been decomposed by alchemical demagogues and revolutionary 
apes. The sickly atmosphere has suffused a morbid humor 
over the whole frame, and left the social body little more than 
' the empty and bloody skin of an immolated victim.' 

" We pass by the ordinary incidents of alienation, which 
are too numerous, and too evanescent to admit of detail. But 
seasons and circumstances of great alarm are not readily for- 
gotten. We have witnessed, and we have felt, my friends, a 
political convulsion, which seemed the harbinger of inevita- 
ble desolation. But it has passed by with a harmless explo- 
sion, and returning friends have paused in wonder, at a 
moment's suspension of friendship. Mingled with the fac- 
titious mass, there was a large spice of sincerity which sanc- 
tified the whole composition, and restored the social body to 
sanity, health, and increased strength and vigor. 

" Thrice happy must be our reflections could we stop here, 
and contemplate the ascending prosperity and increasing vigor 
of this religious community. But the one half has not yet 
been told, — the beginning has hardly been begun. Could I 
borrow the language of the spirits of wrath, — was my pen 
transmuted to a viper's tooth dipped in gore, — was my paper 
transformed to a vellum which no light could illume, and 
which only darkness could render legible, I could, and I 
would, record a tale of blood, of which the foulest miscreant 
must burn in ceaseless anguish only once to have been sus- 
pected. But I refer to imagination what description can 
never reach." 

What the author referred to in this last paragraph no one 



504 COLLEGE WORDS 

knew, nor did he ever advance any explanation of these 
strange words. 

Near the close of his discourse, he said : " Standing in the 
place of a Christian minister among you, through the whole 
course of my ministrations, it has been my great and leading 
aim ever to maintain and exhibit the character and example 
of a Christian man. "With clerical foppery, grimace, craft, 
and hypocrisy, I have had no concern. In the free partici- 
pation of every innocent entertainment and delight, I have 
pursued an open, unreserved course, equally removed from 
the mummery of superstition and the dissipation of infidelity. 
And though I have enjoyed my full share of honor from the 
scandal of bigotry and malice, yet I may safely congratulate 
myself in the reflection, that by this liberal and independent 
progress were men weighed in the balance of intellectual, 
social, and moral worth, I have yet never lost a single friend 
who was worth preserving." — pp. 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11. 



Y. 

YAGER FIGHTS. At Bowdoin College, « Yager Fights;' 
says a correspondent, " are the annual conflicts which occur 
between the townsmen and the students. The Yagers (from 
the German 3[^^9^l*5 ^ hunter, a chaser) were accustomed, 
when the lumbermen came down the river in the spring, to 
assemble in force, march up to the College yard with fife 
and drum, get famously drubbed, and retreat in confusion to 
their dens. The custom has become extinct within the past 
four years, in consequence of the non-appearance of the 
Yagers." 

YALENSIAN. A student at or a member of Yale College. 
In making this selection, we have been governed partly by poetic 

, merit, but more by the associations connected with various pieces 



AND CUSTOMS. 505 

inserted, in the minds of the present generation of Yalensians. 
— Preface to Songs of Yale, 1853. 

The Yalensian is ofi'for Commencement. — Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. 
XIX. p. 355. 

YANKEE. According to the account of this word as given by 
Dr. William Gordon, it appears to have been in use among 
the students of Harvard College at a very early period. A 
citation from his work will show this fact in its proper light. 

" You may wish to know the origin of the term Yankee. 
Take the best account of it which your friend can procure. 
It was a cant, favorite word with Farmer Jonathan Hastings, 
of Cambridge, about 1713. Two aged ministers, who were 
at the College in that town, have told me, they remembered 
it to have been then in use among the students, but had no 
recollection of it before that period. The inventor used it to 
express excellency. A YanJcee good horse, or Tanhee cider, 
and the like, were an excellent good horse and excellent cider. 
The students used to hire horses of him ; their intercourse 
with, him, and his use of the term upon all occasions, led them 
to adopt it, and they gave him the name of Yankee Jon. He 
was a worthy, honest man, but no conjurer. This could not 
escape the notice of the collegiates. Yankee probably be- 
came a by-word among them to express a weak, simple, awk- 
ward person ; was carried from the College with them when 
they left it, and was in that way circulated and established 
through the country, (as was the case in respect to Hobson's 
choice, by the students at Cambridge, in Old England,) till, 
from its currency in New England, it was at length taken up 
and unjustly applied to the New-Englanders in common, as 
a term of reproach." — American War, Ed. 1789, Vol. I. 
pp. 324, 325. Tho?nas's Spy, April, 1789, No. 834. 

In the Massachusetts Magazine, Vol. VII., p. 301, the 
editor, the Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, D. D., of Dorches- 
ter, referring to a letter written by the Rev. John Seccombe, 
and dated " Cambridge, Sept. 27, 1728," observes : " It is a 
most humorous narrative of the fate of a goose roasted at 
* Yankee Hastings's,' and it concludes with a poem on the oc- 
43 



506 COLLEGE WORDS AND CUSTOMS. 

casion, in the mock-heroic." The fact of the name is further 
substantiated in the following remarks by the Rev. John 
Langdon Sibley, of Harvard College : '• Jonathan Hastings, 

Steward of the College from 1750 to 1779, was a son 

of Jonathan Hastings, a tanner, who was called 'Yankee 
Hastings,' and lived on the spot at the northwest corner of 
Holmes Place in Old Cambridge, where, not many years 
since, a house was built by the late William Pomeroy." — 
Father Abbey's Will, Cambridge, Mass., 1854, pp. 7, 8. 
YEAR. At the English universities, the undergraduate course 
is three years and a third. Students of the first year are 
called Freshmen, and the other classes at Cambridge are, in 
popular phrase, designated successively Second-year Men, 
Third-year Men, and Men who are just going out. The 
word year is often used in the sense of class. 

The lecturer stands, and the lectured sit, even when constru- 
ing, as the Freshmen are sometimes asked to do ; the other Years 
are only called on to listen. — BristecTs Five Years in an Eng. 
Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 18. 

Of the '■'-year" that entered with me at Trinity, three men died 
before the time of graduating. — Ihid..) p. 330. 

YEOMAN-BEDELL. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., 
the yeoman-bedell in processions precedes the esquire-bedells, 
carrying an ebony mace, tipped with silver. — Cam. Guide. 

At the University of Oxford, the yeoman-bedels bear the 
silver staves in procession. The vice-chancellor never walks 
out without being preceded by a yeoman-bedel with his in- 
signium of office. — Guide to Oxford. 
See Beadle. 
YOUNG BURSCH. In the German universities, a name 
given to a student during his third term, or semester. 

The fox year is then over, and they wash the eyes of the new- 
baked Young Bursche, since during the fox-year he was held to be 
blind, the fox not being endued with reason. — Howitt's Student 
Life of Germany, Am. ed., p. 124. 



LIST OF AMERICAN COLLEGES 

REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK, IN CONNECTION WITH PARTICU- 
LAR WORDS OR CUSTOMS. 



Amherst College, Amherst, Mass , 349. 

Anderson Collegiate Institute, Ind., 166, 263, 324. 

Bacon College, Ky., 191. 

Bethany College, Bethany, Va., 191, 384, 385. 

BOWDOIN College, Brunswick, Me., 4, 33, 79, 152, 160, 177, 255, 
256, 310, 311, 341, 342, 349, 384, 399, 404, 455, 504. 

Brown University, Providence, K,. I., 289, 349. 

Centre College, Danville, Ky., 10, 191, 202, 454. 

CoLUxMBiA [King's] College, New York, 10, 289, 309, 380, 406. 

Columbian College, Washington, D. C, 10. 

Dartmouth College, Hanover, K H., 9, 12, 31, 38, 63, 79, 80, 
109, 110, 122, 202, 225, 243, 244, 263, 264, 289, 336, 349, 397, 
399. 

Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., 22, 47, 67, 208, 211, 232, 255, 
271, 392, 397, 398, 399, 431, 435, 455, 476. 

Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 2, 5, 6, 9, 13, 14, 19, 25, 
26, 28, 31, 33, 34, 37, 49, 50,. 52, 53, 55, 58, 65 - 76, 78, 85 - 105, 
112-118, 124, 125, 128-131, 133, 144, 146, 153-158, 161, 164, 
166-172, 174, 175, 176, 178-186, 189, 190, 193-202, 207, 210- 
220, 225, 230 - 235, 240, 242, 247 - 251, 255 - 259, 265 - 270, 284- 
288, 290, 292-295, 298-302, 305, 307, 308, 312-325, 329-333, 
336, 341-345, 348-355, 360, 361, 362, 364, 372-376, 379, 381, 
383, 387-392, 400, 415 ^422, 425, 427-430, 433, 442-445,454, 
455, 457, 458, 459, 463, 466, 467, 471, 476 -492, 498 - 506. 

Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Penn., 208, 296, 298, 326, 413, 
423. 

King's College. See Columbia. 



508 A LIST OF AMERICAN COLLEGES. 

MiDDLEBURY COLLEGE, Mddlebuiy, Yt, 19, 46, 225, 265, 381, 

384, 389, 451, 471. 
New Jersey, College of, Princeton, N. J., 10, 20, 46, 56, 58, 190, 

191, 232, 253, 255, 258, 261, 289, 297, 334, 339, 356, 390, 393, 

397, 422, 423, 431, 438, 439, 450, 452, 455. 
New York, UisrivERSiTY of, New York, 47. 
North Carolina, University of, Cliapel Hill, N. C, 57, 309. 
Pennsylvania, University of, Philadelphia, Penn., 289, 380. 
Princeton College. See New Jersey, College of. 
Rutger's College, New Brunswick, N. J., 10, 289. 
Shelby College, Shelbyville, Ky., 110, 191. 
South Carolina College, Columbia, S. C, 28, 35. 
Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., 46, 61, 127, 128, 133, 150, 239, 

240, 282, 336, 411, 412, 424. 
Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., 32, 33, 35, 49, 67, 78, 111, 

174, 203, 259, 260, 310, 321, 349, 356, 384, 392, 393, 397, 406, 

407,410, 411,463. 
Vermont, University of, Burlington, Vt., 4, 30, 38, 58, 81, 195, 

204, 230, 244, 258, 261, 272-280, 336, 347,348,349,395,435, 

461. 
Virginia, University of, Albemarle Co., Va., 10, 36, 146, 160, 

238, 264, 265, 380, 381, 415,453. 
Washington College, Washington, Penn., 165, 208, 285, 296, 

413. 
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., 336, 349, 384, 434. 
Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio, 349. 
West Point, N. Y., 195. 

William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va., 289, 348, 359. 
AViLLiAMS College, Williamstown, Mass., 8, 9, 30, 33, 44, 45, 63, 

64, 67, 175, 178, 203, 205, 209, 240, 241, 243, 254, 290, 291, 306, 

307, 326, 327, 333, 336, 380, 384, 396, 397, 461. 
Yale College, New Haven, Conn., 5, 14, 18, 19, 27, 35, 38-46, 

50, 51, 53, 54, 68, 80, 81, 105-109, 118-121, 123, 131, 132, 133, 

150, 151, 153, 154, 161, 172, 173, 174, 177, 178, 194, 198, 199, 202, 

207, 210, 220-225, 228, 229, 257, 258, 265, 267, 281, 286-289, 

298, 303, 304, 305, 308, 337, 338, 339, 342, 348, 355, 359, 360, 

362, 366-372, 380, 381, 383, 385, 388,389,397,400,401,407, 

408, 424, 428, 430-433, 439, 443, 445-448, 450, 452, 459, 468, 

469, 470, 489, 490, 491, 493 - 497, 504. 



THE END. 

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